A flagship project that saw members elected to a Scottish health board has been called a shambles.
Fife is one of two Scottish locations chosen to elect board members under the Scottish Government scheme.
However, one councillor insists the project, established last summer, has failed spectacularly.
Mike Scott-Hayward, who represents the East Neuk and Landward ward, said the whole initiative was “falling apart.”
He hit out as a bitter row over village pharmacies in north-east Fife continues to cause divisions.
NHS Fife has come in for criticism after it refused to back down on a decision to ban the GP surgery in Balmullo from dispensing medicines.
Villagers face having to travel to Leuchars for their medication.
Mr Scott-Hayward suggested that the board’s handling of the issue was farcical.
He told The Courier, “This is a move designed to make the board more accountable to users, more democratic and in tune with local need. Well, that is falling apart, as far as I am concerned.”
Mr Scott-Hayward accused board members of ignoring locals’ needs and wishes.Long grassHe said, “In an exercise which now seems to me to have been designed to kick the issue into the long grass, the board set up a special sub-committee to examine and resolve the question of who gets what pharmacy in this rural part of Fife.
“Two appointed board members were joined by two elected members neither of whom, I understand, represent east Fife to make the important decision to either allow the GPs in Balmullo to have a pharmacy or not.”
Mr Scott-Hayward fears the project is doing quite the opposite of increasing local democracy. He said, “The vote against the local plans, supported by the local people, went against local needs.
“In my view that is clearly not a system which successfully represents local views.”
Mr Scott-Hayward accused the “so-called” local board of being “biased against local views.”
When contacted by The Courier, a spokesman for NHS Fife said, “Like all health boards, NHS Fife has to comply with legal requirements, set down by parliament, when deciding on matters to do with NHS contracts for dispensing drugs.
“NHS Fife is confident it has met and continues to meet these legal obligations.”
Controversy around the health board surfaced last June a day after the first ballot was held in Fife when the British Medical Association called for the pilot to be scrapped.
They hit out after less than 14% of Fifers eligible to vote did so.
Money spent on the ballot could, officials claimed, have been more wisely invested in health services.
BMA Scotland chairman Dr Brian Keighley, said the low turnout proved there was “little appetite” for the elections and that the results were unrepresentative as a result.