The first ever Health Board elections are running in NHS Fife at the mo. It's going to be very interesting to see how this turns out. The ballot is a postal one, rather than polling booths. The papers were sent out three weeks ago and they have to be returned by 4pm on the 10th June. There are 61 candidates for 12 seats and it's being done on the single transferable vote.
It's gratifying that there's been so much interest. But a quick check down the candidates reveals a good number of ex councillors and health board members. Now I know the sceptics amongst you are going to say that this was bound to happen and so it was. But there is a value to this. People other than councillors and health board afficianados can apply and get voted in by the public. The previous system was that all the candidates for the health board were ex councillors and health board afficianados, and they were appointed. Jo Bloggs didn't get a look in, so this is an improvement.
So who should you vote for in NHS Fife? There's only one man for the job and that's John Winton. John has been the conscience of NHS Fife for the past seven years. He is part of the Local Health Concern group and has harried the board over several issues, esp over the slippage on the Diagnostic and Treatment Centre at the Queen Margaret in Dunfermline. NHS Fife hasn't had its troubles to seek recently; the A&E at the Victoria in Kirkaldy has gone part time due to a shortage of doctors, something they were warned about months ago. It was also one of the three health boards caught up in the Stracathro fiasco, an independent treatment centre that took £15 million for a set number of hip and knee replacement operations, and then said that it wasn't going to operate on anyone who was a risk. As most people receiving such replacements are over 65, it meant that at times occupancy was running at only 50%. This has now been claimed back by the NHS and its future is still to be decided.
John is part of the Scottish Health Campaign Network and is genuinely independent. He knows what the issues are and what he's talking about. More importantly, he knows what the solutions are. If you don't want to vote for a placeman, vote for John and I can assure you that he will get his teeth into the job (and into anyone that needs it).
