Highland and Islands MSP Douglas Ross says he is “delighted” to be bringing forward the case from “Save our Surgeries” campaigners to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.
Douglas – who is also Moray’s MP – has secured a members debate to highlight the “tireless” campaigning by local residents in Burghead and Hopeman who have seen their local GP surgeries closed.
Campaigners will be in the public gallery to hear Douglas lead the debate, in which he will press the case to re-open the “vital” local healthcare facilities.
He says that the impact of the closures have been “deeply damaging” on patients in rural areas in Moray and that the lack of consultation on their future was a “slap in the face” to those who would be affected.
Douglas will use the debate to call on the SNP-Green government – alongside NHS Grampian and Health and Social Care services in Moray – to listen to campaigners and ensure the resources are in place to deliver local access to GP surgeries in communities across Moray.
Highlands and Islands MSP Douglas Ross said: “I am delighted to have secured this debate in the Scottish Parliament.
“I have been proud to stand alongside the Save our Surgeries campaigners in Burghead and Hopeman as they continue their tireless efforts to have local GP surgeries in their communities.
“It is fantastic that they will be in Parliament to hear this debate and I will be relaying their case to have vital local healthcare facilities serving these coastal communities.
“The ongoing closure has had a deeply damaging impact on patients in these communities particularly our elderly and vulnerable and those who have to rely on infrequent public transport to travel to appointments elsewhere.
“These surgeries are at the heart of Hopeman and Burghead, yet the consultation carried out on their future was a slap in the face to the patients who were going to be affected.
“The campaigners have been ignored for far too long by those in positions of power including successive SNP health secretaries and officials at NHS Grampian.
“This debate will give campaigners and the local communities who support them a voice in Parliament and I hope the Health Secretary listens closely and pledges to work with the Save Our Surgeries group going forward to deliver the local healthcare facilities people in Burghead and Hopeman deserve."