Senior managers from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have attended an open meeting with Port Glasgow West Community Council to keep them updated about the future of Inverclyde Royal Hospital.
The NHS team was invited by Secretary Tommy Rodger to give assurances about the retention of services at the IRH.
The Board’s Chief Operating Officer for Acute Services Jonathan Best was joined by Clyde Director Marie Farrell, Inverclyde HSCP Chief Officer Louise Long, Head of Planning Jacqui McGeough and clinicians Dr Andrew Chappell and Dr Brian Digby.
Jonathan Best said: “We were delighted to attend the Port Glasgow West Community Council meeting – it was a great opportunity to hear from the local community and to emphasise the bright future the IRH has in our plans.
“Our Chairman John Brown has already, publically given his commitment to IRH by saying it has a long term future and will continue to play an important part in the delivery of healthcare in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
“The meeting gave us a chance to hear and directly address concerns, to talk about some of plans to develop services in the hospital, to describe the work we are doing to address workforce pressures and also to update on recent investment in the hospital estate, including upgrades and the recent investment in a new CT scanner for the hospital.”
The team committed to attend a future meeting to describe what the Board’s ‘Moving Forward Together’ transformational programme means for the hospital and describe some of the exciting developments being planned to modernise health services locally both in the hospital and the local communities.
Jonathan added: “We have heard how important locally delivered healthcare is to the community in Inverclyde. We have made a commitment to increase local communications and work with the local community through the Integrated Joint Board.
“I want to thank everyone who came out on a cold Monday night to meet with us and I hope they all found it as beneficial as we did.”