On Thursday the 11th of May, Cllr Aude Boubaker-Calder, Scottish Liberal Democrats councillor for Dunfermline Central, voiced in the full council meeting the over-a-decade plea of Dunfermline residents to see essential services reinstated in the Queen Margaret Hospital after the latest closure of the hospice and haematology ward in the city.

Since its opening in 1989, the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline has seen essential services deserting the facility to be relocated to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy starting with the maternity unit in 1993. In 2012, the Accident & Emergency ward was removed from the premises and replaced by minor injuries unit causing a public uproar in the new city.

Boubaker-Calder has said:

“People on the doors and in the streets are demanding local hospital services for over a decade. 

“Forty-five minutes by car, an hour and a half by public transport and up £80 for a return to the Victoria Hospital in a taxi is not accessible healthcare. 

“I am saying enough is enough. Time to have concrete plans from NHS Fife and the Scottish Government on the table for a fully-services hospital in Dunfermline.”

Cllr James Calder who seconded the motion added:

“Dunfermline residents are rightly fed up that our hospital is continually downgraded. Today, we have sent a strong message to NHS Fife and the Scottish Government. I hope they listen to the plea of the City of Dunfermline and its residents.”