A senior health economist is to Chair the independent scrutiny panel which will consider revised proposals to keep A&E services at Ayr and Monklands Hospitals.
Dr Andrew Walker, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, has been appointed by Health and Wellbeing Cabinet Secretary Nicola Sturgeon to head up the panel which will start work in September.
Sturgeon has also announced the terms of reference for the panel, which is tasked with conducting “independent, expert, probing scrutiny” on the revised service proposals from NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
The terms of reference state that “the aim of this scrutiny is to provide assurance through commentary that the revised proposals are: safe, sustainable, evidence-based and represent value for money; robust, patient-centred and consistent with clinical best practice and national policy; that they take account of local circumstances and the views of individuals and communities affected and that all viable service options have been considered.”
Sturgeon said: “I announced in June that I was reversing the decision taken by the previous administration to close the A&E departments at Ayr and Monklands. I asked that NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Ayrshire and Arran develop revised proposals to ensure that A&E services continue at their main hospital sites, and was clear that these would be subject to independent scrutiny.
“I considered it vital that the Chair of this important panel should be someone with extensive experience of the NHS; someone of standing within the health service; and someone who is demonstrably impartial and objective. In Dr Andrew Walker we have a Chair that perfectly fits the bill.
"I have already agreed with the Boards that their final proposals, having been scrutinised and evaluated by the independent panel, should be with me for a final decision by the turn of the year," she added.
Walker said: "Local people and clinicians will rightly expect the revised proposals which come forward from the Boards to be robust, evidence-based, patient-centred, and consistent with clinical best practice and national policy.
"I am delighted to be asked to Chair the independent panel, which will have access to expert clinical and financial advice, and which will take account of the views of local people in scrutinising the Boards' revised proposals.
"The panel will assess the safety, sustainability, evidence-base and value for money of the revised proposals, and will carefully consider the views of local communities before reporting on our findings."
The panel will have three members besides the Chair - a clinical expert, a financial professional and an individual with expertise in the field of public engagement and consumer interests, who will be announced shortly.
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