A patient with cancer on Barra may not get blood for her transfusions at the right temperature because of the decision to axe the inter-island flights, it has been claimed.
Angus MacNeil MP has now written to council leader Angus Campbell asking him to look urgently into reversing, due to new emerging health issues, the damaging decisions taken to axe inter island flights.
Meanwhile, claims have emerged that the service subsidy was axed because – under the council scoring system – the refusal by SNP councillors to take part in the process meant there were too few points to keep it.
The MP is urging him to restore the service from Stornoway to Benbecula to five days a week, with two services each day and then to ensure that the smaller communities and more distant from the main services are also treated fairly by restoring the Barra to Benbecula link.
The council is the only body in the islands that receives public money from the Government for Air Transport services, says Mr Macneil.
He said that with the council damaging its own reputation, surely in quieter moments they are regretting savagely axing the inter-island flights which, he said, was the biggest blow to island transportation in 40 years.
“The idea that a flight three days a week between Benbecula and Stornoway is adequate would not even be considered by the most aloof civil servant in Edinburgh which make the Comhairle’s position all the more ridiculous. Therefore, I would urge the Comhairle to get the Stornoway Benbecula service up to five days as soon as possible and follow suit with the Benbecula to Barra service. Everybody deserves a right to fairness regardless of where they live in the islands.
“I have been spoken to by a cancer patient in Barra, Margaret Currie, who tells me that blood she might need for transfusions might not arrive on Barra within its ambient temperature, due to the time taken to transport it, which means that in a weakened state, Mrs Currie, due to decisions by the Comhairle, would have to travel for blood.
Now I know that the Comhairle didn’t mean this to happen and probably didn’t consider it would happen, which is exactly the point. This was a hasty and ill-judged decision by the Comhairle based on one voting round with only a few weeks’ notice. At the moment, blood which requires complex screening processes can only come three days a week.
It is now being claimed that the axe fell because the SNP councillors failed to indicate the level of savings they wanted. A source said: “If the SNP group had indicated the savings they wanted, there would have been enough points to secure the air service.
“This needs to be explained to the public. If they want to know who is responsible, I suggest they ask the SNP group of members why they refused to take part and use their power to keep the service.
“The public hand-wringing and the blame shifting by the SNP now shows they are deceiving the public. They must admit it is only their fault.”
Meanwhile, the MP is writing to health secreary Alex Neil to perhaps build a link for blood with Glasgow because he says there are real difficulties for patients and medical staff now that the inter-island transport links have been broken by the Comhairle.
Cllr Donald Manford of Barra added: “In light of this, the Comhairle who received money for transportation and have walked from the responsibility, have to think again. Health and social issues seemed to have been of little concern in the bean counting exercise.”
