Health board elections attacked

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Plans for direct elections to health boards in Scotland have come under attack by several NHS authorities.

Bosses in Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Tayside said the move could destabilise the service by drawing board rooms into party politics.

The Scottish Government brought forward the plans to boost public confidence in the health service.

Ministers have cited concern that health authorities had not always properly listened to local views.

Elections across Scotland's 14 NHS boards would cost an estimated £5m under the Health Boards (Membership and Elections) Bill.

Boards are not council chambers Sandy WatsonNHS Tayside

The three health authorities have told Holyrood's health committee there were better alternatives, such as increasing public participation.

They also argued boards already included local councillors and were accountable to ministers and the Scottish Parliament.

Prof William Stevely, interim chair of NHS Ayrshire and Arran, raised concern about the "yo-yoing" of decisions after elections and the use of block party votes when it came to deciding policy.

"Such politicisation of the NHS, which delivers a very large element of the public sector that contains a number of very significant inherent risks, is not a desirable move," he said in a submission to the committee, which is scrutinising the bill.

Prof Stevely added that the move could, "undermine the operation of a national NHS".

NHS Lothian's Pat Dawson said further wholesale change to the current system had the "potential to destabilise boards" and raised concern that elections could be "overwhelmed" by single-issue candidates.

'Political controversy'

NHS Tayside has gone further, by refusing to take part in any pilot of health board elections.

"Boards are not council chambers," stated the authority's chairman Sandy Watson.

He added: "Election of members would be taken to imply in most peoples' minds that they had the lead policy role.

"This could fundamentally affect the operation of boards and draw officials into political controversy, including party politics."

Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has acknoweldged difficult decisions had to be made about NHS services, but said local people should be at the heart of the process.

One of the earliest acts of the new Scottish Government was to reverse decisions by the previous administration to close accident and emergency units at Ayr hospital and Monklands in Lanarkshire, which had caused a local outcry.