Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: August 31, 2017

To share your views on any local issue, just email editorial@helensburghadvertiser.co.uk, with your name, address and a contact phone number, and including 'Letter' in the subject line. Happy writing!

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Many thanks to the Advertiser for a good piece of reporting referencing “Unready Scotland”, our report on the gaps in the response of the Scottish civil authorities to a potential incident involving the transport of nuclear warheads.

Unfortunately the quotation from the un-named council spokesman is misleading. Our report acknowledges the claim by many of the surveyed councils that generic risk assessments are carried out.

Our point is that the risk posed by the warhead traffic (the combination of high explosive and toxic nuclear materials) is unique and requires specific attention. As we say in the report (page 14):

“The local authority cannot rely on the MoD for an off-site response to any incident and, logically, the risks attached to that aspect of the response must also be assessed.

“Secondly, the actual content of any MoD risk assessment, as may exist, is not available to local authorities, let alone the general public. Any claim by a local authority that it has assessed the risks on the basis of adopting an unseen risk assessment by the MOD would be ridiculous.”

There is no evidence that local councils on nuclear warhead convoy routes conduct rigorous risk assessments of the traffic. They also do not comply with their duty under the Civil Contingencies Act to inform their public.

Argyll and Bute itself illustrates a key point about public information. The Clyde Off -Site Emergency Plan entails regular communication with the public in relation to the radiological hazards associated with Faslane.

There is no such public communication about the nuclear warhead traffic and no logic behind the distinction.

Councillor Morton is mistaken in her claim that communication with the public would be led by the MoD. The Scottish Government has said that it would lead the off-site response. She is perhaps muddling the convoy traffic with the Clyde Off-Site Emergency Plan.

The MoD’s retort that our report is “speculative and scaremongering” is pretty rich. The scary aspects of our report are drawn directly from the MoD’s own Local Authority and Emergency Services Information (LAESI) Edition 11 – and it was the same MoD which in 2006 admitted, in reference to potential convoy risks, that “the consequences of such an incident are likely to be considerable loss of life and severe disruption both to the British people’s way of life and to the UK’s ability to function as a sovereign state”.

As to “speculative”, it is in the face of slurs of this sort that Nukewatch has over the years patiently uncovered the facts around nuclear warhead transport.

Our so-called“speculation” and “scaremongering” has become the accepted and acknowledged reality.

David Mackenzie, for Nukewatch

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(Open letter to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde chairman John Brown)

With respect to our forthcoming meeting on August 31, 2017, and on behalf of the communities of West Dunbartonshire and Argyll, we believe it is important that your good office and Jane Grant, chief executive, have an understanding of the struggle we have faced over the past 15 years of services being removed.

These are not for debate but purely to give a reflection of the decay that has occurred during that period.

The list below is the services which have been removed over the last 15 years by respective administrations. I include the out-of-hours GP service which is presently under threat.

From 2002 to the present day the services attacked are as follows:

1. The special care baby unit - removed

2. Accident and emergency services - removed

3. Change of the consultant led maternity unit - removed

4. General surgery transferred to Paisley - removed

5. The laboratories closed - removed

6. Pathology transferred to city mortuary in Glasgow – removed

7. Care of elderly on decline – closure of Dumbarton Joint Hospital – removed

8. Wards closed and mothballed - removed

9. No emergency surgery was being carried out – removed

10. Elective surgery was implemented and day surgery continued – removed

11. Christie ward closed – removed

12. Shop amenity - under continuing threat

13. Surgical ‘D’ ward to close - removed

14. Infrastructure being dismantled ongoing - removed

15. Out-of-hours GP service – under threat

Our aim is to have a positive meeting, which hopefully will result in a long term strategy of protection and stabilisation.

From the above position it is absolutely clear to everyone in the community of West Dunbartonshire and Argyll that unless you take drastic steps to stop the removal of services at the site the hospital will eventually close.

We need massive capital investment in the infrastructure for a safe and hygienic site. We need continuing investment in the facilities and investment including staff to have a long term future.

Without these factors in place there is no doubt in the mind of the public of West Dunbartonshire and Argyll that we are facing a closure through stealth - an aim by the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board to centralise all services, based purely on a financial situation, with no moral conscience or understanding of the absolute fear and concerns of those who have to live with this pressure and stress on a day to day basis.

We continually hear we have a positive future. Your office must explain that positivity in detail to allay the everyday fears and concerns of our communities.

We wish to express our thanks to yourself for giving us the time and opportunity to express our overall concerns regarding our local hospital and we look forward to meeting you.

Jim Moohan, Chairman of Hospitalwatch

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The Community Council’s August Beach Clean was successfully concluded due in no small part to youngsters from the Youth Forum and GIVE programmes coming along to lend a hand to the adult town volunteers.

A great deal of work was completed and the appearance of the West Esplanade is greatly improved as a result. These youngsters lead the way in setting an example to the community on how to take pride in positive action to keep the town clean and tidy.

They are; Campbell Overend, Douglas Overend, Anna Freeman, Robina-Ann McAdam, Aubrey Agub, Megan Campbell and Alex Bates.

The community council's thanks also go to the adult volunteers who worked extremely hard on the day.

The monthly beach clean is beginning to become recognised as a feature of town life.

Norman Muir, Convener, Helensburgh Community Council

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It is plain for all to see that we in Scotland, and particularly in Argyll and Bute, face growing problems with health and social care. In fact it’s a problem that is raised by my constituents on a regular basis.

Unfortunately the SNP has been less than efficient when implementing changes to our health and social care.

A report by Audit Scotland has stated while limited progress has been made in implementing Self Directed Support, there is still much more to be done.

Keep in mind that the decade-long strategy is now in its seventh year, yet many service users are still to experience change.

The SDS initiative was launched back in 2010 and was designed (at least in theory) to allow individuals and families, rather than social workers, to make the majority of decisions in relation to their care.

It was argued at the time that this would improve a number of areas, including dignity for service users and the ability to make informed choices.

Age Scotland has also stated that people need more information relating to how they can access that personal support.

It is not clear why the Scottish Government, having made this change in legislation, has yet to allow so many people to have more control over the support.

The Scottish Government is seven years into a 10-year strategy, yet it is leaving far too many people behind and taking far to long in ensuring these options are available to everyone.

In future the Scottish Government needs to do allot more to support these vulnerable people and do it quicker.

With Scotland’s demographics changing every year and the elderly population growing - particularly in Argyll and Bute - ignoring this issue is not an option.

Cllr Alastair Redman (Conservative, Kintyre and the Islands)