CEO's vote for centralisation- action needed now!

Last week it was announced that there are 164 consultant vacancies in Scotland which have lain unfilled for six months or more. If the proposal to centralise Cleft Surgery in Scotland goes ahead it is very likely we will lose our Cleft Surgeon. Please help us prevent that number increasing to 165 and take a few minutes to read the following:- The Scottish Health Boards Chief Executive Officers voted to support the proposal to close the Cleft Surgical Unit in Edinburgh’s Sick Kids Hospital and merge with the Cleft Unit in Glasgow. The Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, Shona Robinson is expected to either approve or reject their recommendation in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I believe that the hard work of all those involved in the petition has discouraged Shona from automatically rubber stamping the recommendation however, we mustn’t leave things to chance and need to keep up the pressure to ensure that she makes the right decision. Miles Briggs MSP has signed our petition, tabled a motion (S5M-00565), which already has cross-party support, and has also written directly to Shona Robinson to ask her to “pause” her decision. This is fabulous but we need more people helping us. So I am asking everyone (all 5798) who signed the petition to take a few minutes from your busy day to help us save our children’s Cleft Surgical Services in Edinburgh. By spending a few minutes now you could help save years of misery for families affected by cleft. So please:- 1. Write a short email to Shona Robinson advising how this affects your family/ friend (if you feel you can share them, before and after operation photos tell a powerful story), don’t forget to ask her to stop the merger, alternatively if you submitted a letter to the NSD under the consultation process you could forward that to her instead. Shona’s email is Shona.Robison.msp@parliament.scot (imagine 5798 emails popping into her inbox tomorrow!) 2. Copy Shona’s email to Nicola Sturgeon at Nicola.Sturgeon.msp@parliament.scot 3. Copy Shona’s email to your own local MSP and ask your local MSP to do the same as Miles Briggs MSP- sign the petition, sign the motion and email Shona requesting her to pause her decision.(email addresses can be obtained from the Scottish Parliament main website. http://www.parliament.scot/msps/current-msps.aspx ) 4. Re- post/share the petition on Facebook and twitter. 5. Finally, in their pre-election leaflet “139 achievements and counting”, the SNP boasted "We've kept healthcare local”. It's time to remind them of this and hold them to their promises, please Tweet #Keepitlocal@EdinburghCleftUnit. If you can’t manage all of these please do whatever you can to help. Thank you. Kind Regards, Evonne McLatchie