A COUNCILLOR fighting the decision to send the most seriously ill intensive care patients from IRH to Glasgow says a new letter from a top civil servant confirms this must only be a temporary measure.

Alba's Chris McEleny has finally had a response after writing to the health secretary demanding to know when the full service would return to the IRH.

The Tele revealed last month that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had unilaterally decided not to reverse the decision, which caused a storm of protest when it was implemented last year.

Health board bosses had sparked fury when they said they'd have to move more patients to Glasgow because 30 per cent of critically-ill Covid patients ended up with renal failure and Inverclyde Royal no longer had the machine needed to treat them.

Councillor McEleny says a new letter from the Scottish Government categorically states that any move to make this permanent beyond the pandemic would have to be approved by ministers.

He said: "I very much welcome finally receiving confirmation from the Health Secretary that the health board cannot simply make this change to the delivery of ICU at the IRH permanent.

“The Scottish Government could not be clearer in their response - this change has been made as part of the emergency state the NHS is in due to Covid-19.

"Once the emergency state is lifted, level 3 intensive care should be reinstated to the IRH and patients should stop being transferred to Glasgow for treatment.

“The government have also confirmed that this change to our ICU would only be made with ministerial approval.

"No Health Secretary would ever sanction this decision being made permanent, so it is time for the health board to lift the threat of attempting to do so.”

As part of the campaign against the decision last November Cllr McEleny met with the then-Health Secretary Jeane Freeman to seek assurances it would be reversed.

As the country moved out of lockdown and pressure eased on hospitals he then wrote to her successor Humza Yousaf, asking for timetable for the most critically ill patients to remain in Inverclyde.

But around the same time NHS GGC stated their controversial new 'patient pathway' would remain in place post-pandemic.

In the new letter - written by the government's health and social care deputy director, Andrew Fleming - that position is dismissed outright.

It reads: 'We are clear that these limited changes have been made in response to the emerging clinical evidence about how best to treat the most ill patients with Covid-19.

'As a result of the pandemic, NHS boards have been operating under a state of emergency since March 2020.

'The pandemic is not over and this is not business as usual.

'Operational changes that are required to ensure that patients are safely and effectively treated during this time may not be subject to the levels of public engagement and formal consultation which are ordinarily required, for obvious reasons.

'That said, please be assured that any proposals for the permanent change of a local service would have to be considered in the normal way, including those surrounding major service change and ministerial approval, in more normal times.'

The Telegraph has approached NHS Greater & Glasgow Clyde on the matter and awaits a response.