Fife Council Labour leader Alex Rowley has called on Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon to send a team of officials to investigate NHS Fife.
Mr Rowley has heard numerous complaints arising from the opening of the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and transfer of services from Dunfermline’s Queen Margaret Hospital.
Now he is calling Ms Sturgeon to send Scottish Government officers to investigate what he is calling the ”ongoing failings” that have followed the opening of the hospital earlier this year.
And he is urging every Fifer with a grievance or who has suffered a bad experience at the hospital to make a formal complaint direct to NHS Fife.
Following a meeting he had with the operations chairman David Stewart, Mr Rowley said: ”It is clear from the many people who have talked to me and my own experience that staff are absolutely run off their feet and under great pressure.
”The operations chairman described the move to the new hospital and everything that had happened since as a ‘perfect storm’ but that would imply it had nothing to do with NHS Fife, it was just a combination of random circumstances.
”The fact is they have been planning this move for 10 years and sadly they have not done very well and I want to know why.
”More importantly I want this situation to improve rapidly and I expect the cabinet secretary to also accept responsibility and to get something done.”
Mr Rowley added: ”I have nothing but praise for the staff, all staff but the senior managers, the directors and ultimately the politicians in charge of our health service really need to get a grip on this situation.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Fife said the people of Fife can have confidence in services.
She added: ”As Mr Stewart made clear when he and the director of nursing for the operational division met Mr Rowley and the family, we want people to let us know when they think something is wrong. That allows us to investigate and as necessary put matters right.
”So we do welcome feedback though we get many more positive stories than complaints.”
She admitted: ”This winter was difficult there was a sustained 20% increase in emergency admissions over the month around Christmas and New Year when it is always more difficult to discharge people and, like most hospitals in Scotland, we had a period where norovirus came into hospital from the community and wards were closed.
”So we have been facing real problems and we are exceptionally grateful to our staff for their hard work over the move and subsequently.
”The problems are settling down, as you would expect, as we are now almost two months into full use of the building. We believe that the population of Fife should continue to have full confidence in the NHS services available to them.”