Health chiefs have been urged to postpone a decision on the future of Netherlea Hospital in the face of community opposition.
The last-ditch plea by two local councillors came ahead of a meeting of the Glenrothes and North East Fife Community Health Partnership (CHP) to decide the fate of the much-loved hospital.
More than 1,200 people signed a petition opposing closure of the Newport hospital in favour of home-based care in the community, and further information about the alternative model of care has now been demanded before a final decision is made.
Councillors Tim Brett and Maggie Taylor have written to CHP general manager Vicky Irons stating there was clearly no community support for the move and claiming no case had been made for the closure of Netherlea.
Further, they said that the arrangements which would be put in place if the hospital did close had not been properly explained.
They have now asked for more time to be taken to outline examples of the way in which the new system would operate, including information on the number of patients likely to be treated and the role of the Tayview Medical Practice.
”Until this information is available, we do not believe that the closure of Netherlea Hospital should be considered and it would clearly be better if the new arrangements were fully in place and tested before any decision about the future of the hospital was made,” they said.
Netherlea has been earmarked for closure prompting concerns people in the Tay Bridgehead area would find it difficult to visit patients should they be cared for at St Andrews, Cupar or Glenrothes.
Information on a similar model of care in South Wales has been given to Cllrs Brett and Taylor, but in their letter they said they were unable to find any external review of the effectiveness of the service.
”We would have expected that a change of this magnitude would have been fully evaluated before it was introduced in Fife,” they said.