Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Thousands sign St Andrews out-of-hours petition

Willie Rennie seen here during a discussion on out of hours services recently.
Willie Rennie seen here during a discussion on out of hours services recently.

A petition calling for the reinstatement of out-of-hours GP services in St Andrews has gained almost 3,000 signatures in less than a fortnight.

The online petition launched by North East Fife MP Willie Rennie on August 30, aims to persuade Fife Health and Social Care Partnership to continue overnight emergency cover at St Andrews Hospital.

GPs branded the move an unacceptable loss of local services that would threaten patient safety and impact most profoundly on elderly people and families with young children.

Those who have signed the petition include a woman who said the service saved her life and another who described its loss as potentially catastrophic.

In April, the service was removed from the town, as well as from Glenrothes Hospital and Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, and centralised at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

The contingency, prompted by a concern for patient safety amid a shortage of GPs and nurses, was initially due to last three months but was later extended to January.

A consultation on the long-term future of community health services, including out-of-hours GP cover, is continuing and the public has been urged to make its views known.

Proposals include centralising overnight cover from midnight to 8am at Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, or at Kirkcaldy only.

There is no option to retain services at St Andrews or Glenrothes.

Local people can attend meetings at Waid Community Campus, Anstruther on September 20 and in St Andrews Town Hall on September 24, both starting at 6.45pm, to discuss the issue.

Mr Rennie said the online petition gained more than 1,500 signatures within a day and was now being backed-up by paper copies circulating in the east Neuk and St Andrews.

“It’s really taken off,” he said.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The Courier newsletter


“Students, the university and the community council have organised the paper petition and are writing to all the GPs to see I they can get their patients to sign up.

“Everybody I have spoken to about this has expressed a clear view that it should not happen and there is a growing anger. There are some really powerful stories.”

Fife Health and Social Care Partnership director Michael Kellet said there had been no option other than to take the measures to ensure patient safety.

“Fife, like many other areas, is experiencing the impact of shortages of key staff,” he said.

“In response we have put in place the contingency measures to ensure a safe and reliable service.

“In addition, we must look at solutions to secure safe and sustainable services in the immediate and long term.

“This requires transformation of traditional health and social care ways of working and service models.”