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A&E closure decisions overturned A&E closure decisions overturned
(20 minutes later)
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has announced decisions to close two accident and emergency units will be reversed. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has announced to parliament that decisions to close two accident and emergency units will be reversed.
The previous government had endorsed plans to close A&E units at Ayr hospital and Monklands in Lanarkshire.The previous government had endorsed plans to close A&E units at Ayr hospital and Monklands in Lanarkshire.
They were part of reforms for a network of local community hospitals and centralised specialist services. But Ms Sturgeon said health boards in those area had not given enough weight to concerns from local people.
The reversal of the accident and emergency plans was a key pledge of the SNP's election manifesto. Former health minister Andy Kerr branded the announcement a con and a "sell-out of gigantic proportions".
It also stated that a Nationalist government would operate a presumption against the centralisation of "core" hospital services. NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Lanarkshire have now been instructed to produce revised proposals by the end of the year to allow A&E services to continue.
Ms Sturgeon's statement to MSPs came after the man who delivered the blueprint said he was resigning as a Scottish Executive adviser. Public opinion
Professor David Kerr, the author of the report setting out the long-term vision for the NHS in Scotland, said he was "disappointed" that the SNP government planned to reverse the decisions. They will also be independently scrutinised.
"I have reversed the decisions because I think that is the right thing for the public and patients in Lanarkshire and in Ayrshire," Ms Sturgeon told MSPs.
"The two boards did not in my view give sufficient weight to the concerns expressed by local people about the planned withdrawal of A&E services.
"And the boards did not consult on options that retained A&E services at all of the hospital sites - so the public had no opportunity to weigh up costs and benefits.
Ms Sturgeon, whose announcement brought cheers from campaigners sitting in the parliament's public benches, stressed that public opinion could not override genuine concerns about the safety of services, but neither could it be ignored.