The land deal and the hospice

Timeline

I. The political reaction

The Conservatives' health spokesperson, Jackson Carlaw:
     'Mr John Bannon MBE – a member of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board – has written to health secretary Nicola Sturgeon alleging that the board's management has obstructed his efforts to establish the facts surrounding the Blawarthill land deal which leaves the future of St Margaret of Scotland Hospice lying in the balance.
     It's one thing for the health board to withhold information from the public but quite another to withhold information from its own members. This is a very serious allegation and the health secretary must get to the bottom of it as a matter of urgency.
     Regardless of the outcome of any investigation into these particular allegations the time has well and truly come for Nicola Sturgeon to appoint a Special Representative to facilitate dealings between St Margaret's and the health board. Relationships between the two have long since broken down, and now it appears relationships between the health board and its own members are breaking down too.
     The appointment of a Special Representative, who enjoys the confidence and goodwill of both parties, is essential if this seemingly interminable stalemate is ever to be broken.'
3 February 2010

The Labour Party in Scotland:
     'Jackie Baillie has pledged that if Labour win the next Scottish election we will save St Margaret's Hospice. More than 100,000 people have so far signed a petition in support of the hospice. Labour's commitment to funding continuing care beds at St Margaret's Hospice, in Clydebank, is in addition to the new facility planned by NHS Greater Glasgow at Blawarthill Hospital.'
     Shadow Health Secretary Jackie Baillie said: "If elected in May 2011, I give the commitment that an incoming Scottish Labour Government will fund continuing care beds at St Margaret's Hospice. This will be in addition to those planned by the health board at Blawarthill Hospital. St Margaret's has offered compassionate and dedicated care to patients for almost 60 years. It is an excellent facility and we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that it has a future for many years to come."
     Clydebank and Milngavie MSP Des McNulty said: 'Nicola Sturgeon was asked time and time again to intervene to prevent the Health Board removing funding from St Margaret's Hospice. She failed to act. I am delighted that Labour has committed itself to keeping the continuing care beds at St Margaret's, ensuring the hospice has a safe future'.
4 February 2010

West of Scotland Liberal Democrat MSP Ross Finnie:
     'Up until now the health secretary has refused to intervene on the grounds that it was a matter for the health board and St Margaret's Hospice to sort out.
     I have consistently taken the view that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's prejudiced position against St Margaret's Hospice made a sensible solution impossible.
     Now we have the revelations from non-executive board member John Bannon and the piece by Kenneth Roy in the Scottish Review which raise serious questions about the Blawarthill deal, its relationship to the attempt to close down the hospice and confirms the board's prejudice against St Margaret's Hospice.
     The proper provision of care for the elderly and the proper use of public funds are not issues the cabinet secretary can duck any longer. The future of St Margaret's Hospice is being threatened by a NHS board in highly dubious circumstances and I have written to the cabinet secretary today urging her to intervene, investigate the complaints raised by John Bannon and Kenneth Roy and sort out this wholly avoidable mess NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have made of the situation.'
     Mr Finnie's letter to Nicola Sturgeon reads:
     'Dear Nicola
     As I understand it, you have been written to by Mr J Bannon, non-executive board member of Greater Glasgow and Clyde and I am sure you are aware of the articles which appeared in the Scottish Review, the first entitled 'The land deal, the end of life and the public interest' by Kenneth Roy and the second, 'Obstructed in my Search for the Truth' based upon revelations by John Bannon, copies of which are attached.
     As you are well aware, I have for a very long time been concerned that there was no prospect of a sensible solution being reached between NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and St Margaret's Hospice, largely on the grounds that although there might be faults on either side, the undoubted prejudice of the board against the continuation of St Margaret's made that impossible. The revelations by Kenneth Roy and John Bannon bring my concerns into sharp relief. I have never understood why, if the board accepted the need for 30 care beds, it was insistent on those beds being provided by a new build at Blawarthill when such beds already existed at St Margaret's. These latest revelations do not suggest for one minute that the board's primary concern was their due care for the elderly or due care for the public purse.
     In all these circumstances I urge you to intervene in this matter to investigate the allegations laid by Mr Roy and Mr Bannon and to finally bring to an end the wholly unjustified threats by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde effectively to close St Margaret's Hospice.
     Yours sincerely
     Ross Finnie
5 February 2010

II. A chronology of events

Tuesday 26 January
After weeks of research, SR publishes 'The land deal, the end of life, and the public interest', an investigation into a decision by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for the redevelopment of Blawarthill Hospital, Glasgow, which would make care of elderly people nearing the end of their lives a business conducted for profit, while a charitable hospice nearby, St Margaret of Scotland, has its funding for this work withdrawn.

Wednesday 27 January
The board's director of communications circulates the board with a copy of SR's investigation, describes it as 'sensational reading', but dismisses its significance. On the same day, SR sends each of the 16 ministerial appointees on the board an identical letter, via email and routed through the chairman's office, containing seven questions on the land deal. The management decides not to forward the letter to its intended recipients. SR publishes the seven questions online.

Thursday 28 January
The Daily Record, unpromped by SR, puts the seven questions to the board. The director of communications responds to the Record, and two other media organisations, with answers to the questions, sending a copy to members of the board, but fails to send a copy to SR. A senior member, John Bannon MBE, who had read SR's 26 January exposé, is furious that a statement has been sent to the media without consultation.

Friday 29 January
Mr Bannon begins a long letter on the Blawarthill Hospital affair, and the withdrawal of hospice funding, to the cabinet secretary for health, Nicola Sturgeon.

Monday 1 February
Mr Bannon finalises his letter. It is headed 'Scottish Review investigation' and accuses the management of obstructing him in his search for the truth, of a lack of financial transparency, and of consistent failures of consultation. He calls for ministerial intervention and an independent inquiry.

Tuesday 2 February
SR publishes extracts from Mr Bannon's letter.
     The Scottish Government issues the following statement:
     'The cabinet secretary [Nicola Sturgeon] received Mr Bannon's letter today and immediately asked for a full report from the board on the issues raised in the letter. Once this report is received she will consider it fully.'
     Later in the day, the secretary to the board releases SR's intercepted letter to its intended recipients.