Submitting.
And he called on the Scottish Government to “end the ambiguity” over its plans and commit to a new hospital at Little France.
Gordon Brown with Dr Hector Chawla Picture: Alex Hewitt
His intervention, just days before the Holyrood elections, comes as Dr Hector Chawla, the consultant responsible for the sight-saving surgery in 1971, sets out in today’s Scotsman why the proposal to disperse services, put forward by the government as an alternative to a new hospital, would not work.
The government told NHS Lothian in December it would not fund a new hospital “now or in the foreseeable future” despite agreeing in principle to the project in 2018 and allowing more than £1 million to be spent on planning the new building. Instead, it said NHS Lothian should review eyecare services, suggesting community optometrists could take a bigger role and operations could be carried out at a new elective centre in Livingston yet to be built.
Submitting.
The difficulties have been described by Boris Johnson as teething troubles . These are no teething troubles but the new reality. We are no longer in a single market and this comes with bureaucracy.
A system that put fresh Scottish seafood on dining tables across Europe in just over a day has been shattered. Many of our seafood exporters are now facing the destruction of their livelihoods.
Devolution cannot even begin to deal with the scale of this disaster. Only independence can allow us to repair the epic damage of the Brexit folly.
Jim Daly, Comiston, Edinburgh
Vaccine cards
I am now thinking ahead for when we are allowed to escape not just beyond 5 miles but the country.
Edinburgh should get new Eye Pavilion after Lib Dems strike deal over Scottish budget – Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP scotsman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scotsman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.