Question reference: S3O-00163
- Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 30 May 2007
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Current status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2007
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will implement a policy of presumption against the centralisation of core hospital services.
Answer
As I made clear in mystatement to Parliament yesterday, I will operate a presumption againstcentralisation of core services whenever NHS boards bring forward proposals forsignificant service changes.
That does not mean no changein any circumstances. However, it does mean that any proposals will have to berobust, that the alternatives will have to be properly considered, and that dueweight must be given to public opinion. To ensure this is the case, I have decidedthat all future significant service change proposals should be subject toindependent scrutiny.
I will make a furtherannouncement soon about the form of independent scrutiny that will apply to futureservice change proposals.