An MP has called on NHS Fife’s new chief executive to back a long-delayed health centre.
Richard Baker, MP for Glenrothes and Mid Fife, has urged William Edwards to prioritise the delivery of a new health centre in Lochgelly, which has faced more than a decade of delays and unfulfilled funding promises.
In a letter to Mr Edwards, Mr Baker urged him to help bring a solution "following years of disappointments and setbacks."
Mr Baker said funding had been promised by "not one, but three successive health ministers" since 2011.
“A new build project was shovel-ready, a detailed plan was approved and a site at Francis Street earmarked, with work expected to begin in 2023, but Scottish Government funding failed to materialise,” he wrote.
Mr Baker said the need for a new health centre was "becoming increasingly urgent" as the state of the current building fell "woefully short of modern standards."
The MP added: “Arguably, the building has never been fit-for-purpose, yet the demands placed on struggling services continue to escalate as more new houses are built in the area.”
Last year, Health Minister Neil Gray told Mr Baker and campaigners, including Dr Brian Robson and Jan Schulz, that a new build would be delayed until at least 2031.
This is despite the fact that in a meeting with NHS Fife in February, they were reassured that while delayed, a new Lochgelly Health Centre would be submitted by NHS Fife to the Scottish Government as a "top priority" capital project.
This assurance was short lived however, as Mr Baker was left "astonished" after learning that the Scottish Government had decided to combine the Lochgelly project with an entirely separate capital project in Cowdenbeath.
The MP said: "At every turn on this journey, just as all respective parties seem to agree on a plan forward, the goalposts change and the project is kicked into the long grass.
"The situation is intolerable."
Mr Baker called on Mr Edwards to champion the project within NHS Fife, Saying: "While I appreciate your new role will bring with it a whole list of competing and urgent demands, I would appeal to you to do everything you possibly can to advocate for a new Lochgelly Health Centre to be built in Lochgelly itself and, following years of disappointments and setbacks, secure necessary funding from the Scottish Government to finally make this long-awaited and long-promised plan a reality."
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