Until recently, Cottage Hospitals in our area delivered a range of services including palliative care and step-down care. This helped people to be cared for closer to home and assisted in relieving pressures at DGRI and other larger hospitals. 

However, NHS Dumfries & Galloway have not returned a number of these services previously delivered at Cottage Hospitals. There has also been a clear need for some time to invest in local care facilities – like our Cottage Hospitals – to ensure we have high quality, fit for purpose care facilities in our communities. 

We, the undersigned, call on NHS Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Government to urgently resume all services which were previously delivered at Cottage Hospitals including at Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright and Newton Stewart - including delivery of local step-down and palliative care. These services must be delivered in appropriate local care settings and we further call on the NHS Board and Scottish Government to accelerate plans to provide fit for purpose care facilities as close to home as possible.