WEST FIFE could be left with no overnight out-of-hours services if one suggestion put forward by the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership is allowed to go ahead.

A consultation paper has outlined two possible ways forward.

One would see care provided at both Queen Margaret and Victoria Hospitals.

But the other would result in just one overnight urgent care centre in Kirkcaldy.

Members of the partnership’s board had been due to give the green light to start the public consultation on Tuesday but put off the decision until next month so that a revised public consultation paper can be developed further.

The ‘Joining Up Care’ consultation has been devised in response to the growing demand for services, increasing complex care needs and the public’s desire to live well at home for longer.

The first option outlined to redesign urgent care would include the provision of two Urgent Care Centres – at the Victoria and the Queen Margaret – which would be open in the evenings, weekends and public holidays, however, only the Kirkcaldy one would stay open overnight.

The second option would see overnight care in Dunfermline with both centres remaining open.

None of the options include any overnight urgent care in St Andrews or Glenrothes where services were also stopped temporarily last month because of staff shortages.

The partnership says the collective goal of the ‘Joining Up Care’ consultation proposition is to establish a fully-integrated 24 hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week community health and social care model that ensures sustainable, safe and more individual experience of care.

Its director, Michael Kellet, said: “Ensuring the right care, from the right person at the right time is vital, whether this is responding to a poorly child after the GP is shut, being more proactive to support independence and wellbeing or giving complex round-the-clock medical care to those with long-term conditions,” he said.

“We know people value their local services highly but the challenges are such that leaving services as they are is not a safe, sustainable or responsible option. “To meet modern demands, we need to adapt systems and change ways of working that have been in place for many years. We need to join care across communities and hospital services so we can continue to respond to people’s physical, emotional and social needs.

“The future of Fife’s integrated care services involves all of us all. By bringing together the review of Urgent Care Out of Hours, development of community health and wellbeing hubs and community hospital re-design under one ‘Joining Up Care’ proposal, the aim is to create a comprehensive approach to evolving services, one which will involve full consultation with the public before any change is made.”

Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley, who co-hosted a cross-party public meeting on the cutting of out-of-hours services last week, urged West Fifers to engage in the consultation if, and when, it is launched.

“Crucially, if consultation is approved, it is really important that people participate and make their views known,” he told the Press. “If they are the only two options on the table, option two would be the better option for the Dunfermline area.

“If people want to see an urgent care centre overnight based in Dunfermline, then they need to get involved.”