AN independent review will be held into the decision process on Monklands Hospital, the Health Secretary has announced.
NHS Lanarkshire bosses aimed to either replace or refurbish the hospital in Airdrie, with a new facility at Gartcosh having emerged as the leading option.
However, the proposals were met with protests, with campaigners calling for any new hospital to be built on the existing site.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman responded to a 20-page letter from the SNP’s Neil Gray MP and Alex Neil MSP calling for her to intervene.
Gray and Neil, both representatives of the Airdrie & Shotts constituency, raised their concerns about the manner of the decision-making process conducted by the NHS board.
Freeman confirmed she would agree to the request and has now started a review process.
She said: “In order to retain public confidence in this process it is clearly important that these concerns are properly considered and responded to.
“I have therefore asked the chief executive of NHS Scotland to establish a review in order to provide me with an independent assessment of the consultation.
“Reporting back to me, it will determine whether the process has been consistent with best practice, and if it has properly taken the views of all stakeholders into account at all relevant stages."
Gray said: “I am delighted that Jeane Freeman has agreed to our request to instruct an independent review of NHS Lanarkshire’s processes regarding the new Monklands Hospital.
“Alex and I have been campaigning hard for months with local volunteers to see the Gartcosh option off the table as it is clear it is opposed by the public and politicians.
“There are also gaping holes in the supposed facts and arguments for Gartcosh, as we have exposed in our 20-page submission.”
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