HELENSBURGH’S MSP has praised the local campaigners who fought for the GP out-of-hours service at the Vale of Leven Hospital – after health chiefs announced its full reinstatement.

The complete weekend and evening service was reintroduced at the Alexandria hospital from Friday night, following the return last month of the weekday evening service.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) says the weekend service is initially being operated under a short review period to ensure the new staffing arrangements can support the model long-term.

The service has been plagued by closures since 2019 due to difficulty finding enough medical professionals to staff the service.

Jackie Baillie MSP said: “This is a great day for our local community. Finally, after almost two years of inadequate access to out of hours service, this service will begin running again at full capacity.

“This comes after years of campaigning by myself, local people and groups such as Hospitalwatch – together, we fought to protect and reopen this service.

READ MORE: GP out-of-hours service at Vale of Leven Hospital 'now fully reinstated', say health chiefs

“Huge thanks must go to local GPs for making this reopening possible. We owe them a debt of gratitude for putting the interests of local people first.

“Now more than ever, local people need easy access to vital health services.”

Health bosses announced in December that full evening and weekend cover for the GP out-of-hours service would be restored by the end of March at the latest after an agreement was reached with local GPs from the hospital’s integrated care GP (ICGP) team to staff the rota.

They already provide out-of-hours medical cover for the hospital’s medical assessment unit, minor injuries unit, admissions ward and in-patient wards.

If the implementation period is successful, the weekend service will remain in place alongside the evening service, which was reinstated in January, and the overnight service which operates seven days a week.

The new arrangement has been made possible through discussions between NHSGGC and local GPs who will staff the service as part of the hospital’s Integrated Care GP team (ICGP).

READ MORE: Public 'overwhelmingly positive' about Vale of Leven Hospital, SNP candidate's survey finds

The ICGP team will also continue to deliver other vital out of hours medical cover across the Vale, including the Medical Assessment Unit, the Minor Injuries Unit, the admissions ward and the inpatient wards.

Patients should only use the service if they require urgent GP care and their normal practice is not open.

In line with GP out of hours services across NHSGGC, patients should make an appointment through NHS24 by calling 111.

Susan Manion, the health board’s interim chief officer for GP out of hours services, said: “We are pleased to be able to provisionally reinstate the weekend GP out of hours service ahead of schedule which means a full service is now in operation at the Vale of Leven, providing the local community with vital out of hours access to a GP in evenings, at weekends and overnight.

“The integrated care GP team at the Vale, working alongside our local GPs, have been crucial in enabling us to reinstate this service and it’s thanks to them we’re now able to provide a full, robust and sustainable long-term proposition for GP out of hours.”

READ MORE: Catch up with all the latest Helensburgh and Lomond news headlines by clicking here