THERE is ‘no substance’ to fears that have been expressed over the future of Inverclyde Royal Hospital, the First Minister has told the Tele.

In an exclusive interview during yesterday’s Scottish Cabinet visit to Inverclyde, Nicola Sturgeon also said she wanted to see action being taken as soon as possible over the abandoned site for a women’s prison in Greenock.

She gave reassurances that the Scottish Government was working to reduce delays to building a new Greenock Health Centre and a new elderly care unit to replace Ravenscraig Hospital.

The First Minister also commented about concerns for the future of CalMac’s Gourock HQ and its employees, and supported the Tele’s Justice for Pets campaign over the slaughter of animals in Gourock Park.

Speaking about Inverclyde Royal, she said: “There is no substance to these fears.

“I know how important the hospital is to people in this area, and I know how importantly the health board consider any decisions around the hospital.

“Understandably, there is a sensitivity about services being centralised out of the hospital.

“There are no plans to centralise services out of Inverclyde.

“If there were to be, which there are not at the moment, there would be a full process of public consultation.

“The reassurance I would give to people is that I understand all too well why this hospital is so important to people locally, and we value local provision of services.”

On the prison site, the First Minister said it is still part of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) estate.

She said: “It’s entirely possible it will be used in future for SPS plans.

“That may be a replacement for the current Greenock prison.

“It’s still very much there as an asset for the SPS.

“I would hope that, in the not too distant future, there would be clarity.”

She said it could be after May’s Scottish Parliament elections before a decision is reached because there are issues to be worked through, including the Scottish Government’s budgetary position.

Ms Sturgeon said: “We understand the local concern about it.

“Nobody wants to have a big site doing nothing for an extended period of time.
“It’s in nobody’s interests. We’ll try to bring clarity as soon as possible

“We understand there is a frustration that it can’t happen immediately, but it’s not possible to say exactly when it will happen at the moment.”

Commenting on delays to a new health centre and elderly care unit, the First Minister said a number of projects were affected across the country.

She said: “There are delays caused by something that is outwith our control.

“It is basically changes to accounting rules, but I hope very much that this issue will be resolved very soon and in a way that allows us to give the go-ahead to these projects. I don’t want to see them being delayed for a single day longer than they have to be.

“I am very hopeful that we will see a resolution.”
Asked about CalMac, she said she could not give cast-iron guarantees on jobs or the Gourock HQ because the tender process is under way to decide if CalMac or Serco will operate the Clyde and Hebridean services.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It’s not possible for me to comment, other than to say that the services provided by the ferries are absolutely critical. The importance of this contract to people across the country is hugely understood.

“It’s not that I can’t give guarantees, it’s that there is a live tendering process taking place, so I’m just not able to comment on the substance of that at this stage.”
Commenting on the Tele’s Justice for Pets drive, she said she has ‘huge sympathy’ for the motivation behind the campaign, which aims to change the law so that people accused of attacking animals can be prosecuted six months after an offence.

The First Minister commended the 5,400 people who have signed the Tele petition, and said: “We are looking at this carefully just now to see if it would be possible to amend the time bar legislation.”

Asked if any legislation could take into account crimes committed in the past, rather than just in the future, she said: “As a general rule of thumb, change to legislation is not made retrospective. 

“There are very, very occasional exceptions to that, but it’s almost a human rights principle that people have to know at the time what legislation covers their behaviour.

“It’s something we will consider, but I wouldn’t want to raise expectations about a retrospective application.”