CAMPAIGNER Jim Philp said he’s “not going to give up” despite health chiefs ruling out a return of accident and emergency to Dunfermline.

He collected 31,000 signatures from people who wanted NHS Fife to bring it back to the Queen Margaret Hospital but they said on Tuesday that it would not happen.

Mr Philp said, “I’m not going to give up or let the issue go away. It may have been right in 2001 but it’s not right for Fife now. To me, the people that dreamed it up are balloons who don’t give a damn about people, all they are interested in are stats. It was the wrong move and they should hold up their hands up, admit it and change it.” He added, “It’s not a crusade, it’s just something West Fife needs and I’m going to keep going until something gets done. If they can’t see that more than 31,000 of the population are unhappy, then they’re not thinking about the people they serve and get public money from.” NHS Fife published a comprehensive report that stated why emergency treatment was centralised in Kirkcaldy in 2012 and why the decision should not be reversed. Across the Kingdom, they said average travel times to the Victoria have reduced “although this is achieved with a lengthening of the travel time from West Fife”.

The board published data on the number of patients who “arrive dead” at hospital to see if the situation had deteriorated since A&E was centralised.

The number of people dead on arrival after arriving by ambulance was 17 in 2009, 10 in 2010, 16 in 2011, 14 in 2012, 15 in 2013 and 10 last year.

Dr Gordon Birnie said, “The numbers are small and there is year-on-year fluctuations and it is therefore important not to over-interpret these data.

“These data show there is no evidence of an increase in the number of patients arriving dead at the emergency department since the reorganisation of the acute services in 2012. Indeed, there is a consistent trend towards fewer patients deteriorating in transit and fewer patients arriving dead at hospital.” He said this was against a general increase in the number of people arriving by ambulance at hospital. The report said Dunfermline’s population had grown by 18.4 per cent – from 46,212 in 2002 to 54,712 in 2013 – Kirkcaldy saw the next biggest increase at 5.8 per cent – from 56,526 to 59,795.

Mr Philp responded, “They told me about the numbers but it’s still putting people’s lives at risk by making them travel a greater distance, which is something they shouldn’t be doing.

“Dunfermline is growing and thousands more houses are coming, you really need a hospital with full A&E at one end and another hospital with full A&E at the other. There’s room to build at QMH.” NHS Fife said they looked at the feasibility of re-establishing an A&E in QMH but it would need sufficient medical and nursing staff, a number of support services such as intensive care, anaesthetics, general surgery and orthopaedic trauma and enough space to accommodate it all.

The report said they were currently struggling to combat staff shortages and “it is clear that there are real problems at the middle grade level to staff even a single department”. They’ve had to employ locums – at greater cost – juggle staff and come up with “pragmatic solutions” just to keep the emergency department going at the Vic. Even then, they admitted the service at the Vic was “not as robust as we believe is necessary” and that “further recruitment is urgently needed”.

Dr Birnie’s report also stated they don’t have room. The redevelopment of QMH into a diagnostic and treatment centre led to the regional endoscopy unit, day surgery suite and urology treatment centre opening in Dunfermline.

Bringing back A&E to QMH would mean “a number of the newly-developed services would have to be moved elsewhere”.

Mr Philp said, “The system now is not fair. If you’re having a heart attack in Culross or Oakley you’re not receiving the same level of care as someone in Kirkcaldy. Not everyone will survive an extra 15-mile journey to Kirkcaldy and I don’t believe there were less fatalities.

“I’ve spoken to ambulance drivers who told me there’s been more fatalities as they’re not reaching medical care in time and there’s only so much you can do in the back of an ambulance doing 50-60mph. It’s the last place you want to be and if you’ve already come from a village, say Saline, the extra miles to Kirkcaldy can be critical.” NHS Fife chief executive Paul Hawkins said, “The board is aware of the strength of feeling regarding the amalgamation of acute emergency services on one site. As an organisation, we place great value on the feedback we receive and endeavour to act upon this wherever practicable, in order that we can use it to continue improving the services we provide.

“The medical director and director of acute services will, therefore, lead a group to examine how we provide services for those in West Fife requiring urgent care. This group will include public representatives and will be the first stage of a more comprehensive piece of work to adapt and enhance the wider urgent care system in Fife.”