NOT a month goes by without the health board coming up with more cuts to services at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

The latest is to downgrade the pharmacy service.

A number of concerned patients contacted my office after managers informed pharmacy staff that many of them will be redeployed to Glasgow within weeks.

This flies in the face of assurances from the health board that the pharmacy is only under review. They are already taking decisions and trying to force them through quickly before local patients and campaigners have time to challenge them.

The fear is that the pharmacy will be left as a skeleton service without the ability to prescribe medicines for day clinics and discharged patients.

This will have an impact on a wide range of services within the hospital and will effectively transfer the work to our already hard-pressed GPs.

The announcement also follows hot on the heels of the review of GP Out of Hours services and the health board’s admission that the decision on the birthing unit closure will be taken after the local elections in May.

Yet more cuts affecting key services at the Vale of Leven Hospital and, cynically, decisions won’t be made until after the elections.

A recently retired haematology consultant spoke out last week about the impact that the neverending cycle of cuts is having on staff morale at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

Dr Tricia Clarke dedicated 26 years of her life to serving patients in Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Helensburgh and she was a highly regarded member of the team at the hospital.

When a prominent consultant speaks out about the cuts at the Vale, the health board and the Scottish Government must surely listen and act.

The health board did nothing to plan for a replacement after her retirement and the haematology service is now being provided by temporary locum doctors as a result.

Consultant-led sessions have been cut by a third and the future is uncertain.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s new chief executive, Jane Grant, took up her post last week.

Let’s make sure that turning the tide at the Vale of Leven Hospital is at the top of her list of priorities.