Surgeon To Campaign On NHS Ticket

A surgeon is to stand for the Scottish Parliament in protest at National Health Service changes. David Smith, who is targeting Glasgow Cathcart as an independent, is demanding better healthcare provision across the south of Glasgow.

He has spoken to Dr Jean Turner, who campaigned to prevent the closure of Stobhill Hospital and was elected MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden in 2003. But he said he had a wider remit than preventing the closure of one hospital. Mr Smith, who is 63 and due to retire shortly, is a general consultant surgeon with a special interest in breast cancer.

He claims the health board in Glasgow has been reducing services in the south of the city over the past 15 years and is concerned at plans to replace the Victoria Hospital with a new building. The other services currently offered, including an accident and emergency department, are being transferred to the Southern General Hospital.

He said: “I’ve been a consultant here for 30 years and I’m very saddened by the way in which the health board in the last few years have decided to strip away the services from people in Cathcart.”

Mr Smith, who described himself as “not a political animal”, has lived in the Cathcart constituency all his life. He is calling for an overall improvement in medical provision across Glasgow’s southside. “Only an independent voice will enable the real health needs of the people of Cathcart to be heard,” he added.