CONCERNS have been raised about patients with broken arms or legs bypassing Inverclyde Royal by ambulance to be treated outside the area - and the impact it will have on the local A&E.

Hospital cuts campaigner and former provost Ciano Rebecchi says alarm bells were recently raised with him by elderly patients who had fallen and sustained suspected broken bones.

Rather than making the short journey to IRH they found themselves being sent straight to Paisley's RAH by ambulance.

It is part of a controversial change introduced two years ago with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde bosses deciding that serious injuries would be treated at Paisley and life-threatening cases going to the Queen Elizabeth.

As part of the new 'Scottish trauma network' patients are later sent back to Inverclyde Royal for recovery and rehabilitation.

At the time local campaigners including Councillor Martin McCluskey, who now sits on the health board, unsuccessfully called for Inverclyde to be designated as a trauma centre, amid concern for the future of IRH's casualty department.

Ex-councillor Ciano, who has led anti-cuts campaigns for the last two decades, said: "Why are people with broken arms or legs, who live minutes away from Inverclyde Royal, going all the way to Paisley by ambulance when we have a perfectly good A&E at Inverclyde Royal?

"If you are able to get to the A&E at Inverclyde Royal yourself they will treat you, so what is the difference? 

"It is just putting more pressure on resources. We already have problems with ambulance response times so it doesn't make any sense to me and it makes me worry about their plans for Inverclyde Royal's A&E.

"Are they trying to reduce the numbers going to Inverclyde?

"A couple of elderly people recently phoned for an ambulance when they'd fallen and couldn't understand why they had to go to Paisley.

"They were concerned that they were not going to their local hospital.

"I want reassurances about what this means for local patients and the future of Inverclyde's A&E.

"I worry if ambulances are no longer taking patients with broken arms and legs to IRH."

When the Tele first revealed the service shakeup plans back in 2019 a number of questions were raised, including by unions, about the impact it would have on Inverclyde Royal.

But the decision was taken to use Paisley's RAH, with the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital named the major trauma centre for serious and life threatening injuries.

The set-up was introduced in 2021, with assurances that patients would be moved back to Inverclyde Royal as soon as possible while IRH was to be used for elective surgery procedures.

Councillor McCluskey said: "At the time of the creation of the network, many people - including myself - called for Inverclyde Royal to be a trauma centre.

"While the IRH was not chosen, we were chosen to be a centre of excellence for orthopaedic surgery for the health board area.

"This meant that theatres were upgraded to allow more operations to take place at IRH and people now come from across the region to have surgery here.

"Where people are transported to the RAH it is often because they have particularly serious injuries and need to see a specialist doctor.

"The intention of the network was that once someone has been treated they would be moved back to their own local hospital - IRH in our case - for recovery and rehabilitation.

"I will be seeking clarity from the health board about whether this is still happening."

When asked about the impact the changes are having on Inverclyde Royal, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde insisted its A&E was an integral part of the network.

Dr Brian Digby, clinical lead of the west of Scotland trauma network, said: "Working in conjunction with the Scottish Ambulance Service, healthcare professionals make informed assessments of injuries and patients are taken to the most suitable hospital for ongoing care and further injury evaluation and treatment.

"The network's ambition is to improve the outcomes of all patients suffering injuries related to trauma.

"Inverclyde Royal Hospital continues to be a key part of the network and, at the same time, is a local emergency hospital which has operational figures that show the emergency department is one of the best performing in the board."