AN Inverclyde councillor has dramatically quit Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board in protest at hugely controversial cuts to the district's GP out of hours service.

Martin McCluskey has branded the decision - taken in the face of overwhelming public opposition - a 'significant breach of trust' which has left Inverclyde with a 'second-class service'.

Councillor McCluskey sent his resignation letter to Scotland's health secretary Neil Gray in the early hours of yesterday morning after fellow board members voted to impose the cuts.

He said that under the collective responsibility and the code of conduct introduced two years ago, he would be duty bound to publicly defend a 'bad decision' and he couldn't continue in good conscience.

Mr McCluskey told Mr Gray: "I had a clear choice of continuing as a member of the board and being forced to support this decision publicly or resigning my position to enable me to speak out.

"In any choice of defending services in my community, I will always put the community's interests ahead of my own position."

Councillor McCluskey also hit out at the Scottish Government, saying the reduction was a result of overall funding cuts.

He warned that more was still to come as Greater Glasgow and Clyde facse a funding gap of £226.9 million - almost the entire budget for Inverclyde - in the next year.

Councillor McCluskey reminded Mr Gray that the out of hours service had been suspended in February 2020 with a promise from the then chair that this would only be temporary.

He added: "Four years on, the board has decided to make permanent a second class service in Inverclyde, due to a lack of funding from your government and insufficient GPs to staff the service.

"This is a significant breach of trust.

"It is well documented that those with the greatest need for health care often have the least access to it, and this move by the board will only make this situation worse for the most vulnerable people Inverclyde.

"I was not assured that the measures that the board have put in place to mitigate the impact in Inverclyde will have the desired effect.

"This decision does not exist in a vacuum and that decisions made by you and the Scottish Government are at the root cause of the crisis facing the health board."

The NHS will now rely on patient transport to Paisley, home visiting and a telephone appointment system when people in Inverclyde need a GP out of hours outwith limited hours at the weekends.

Speaking to the Tele Mr McCluskey said: "I don't blame the people round the board who had to make that decision, They are asked to make system wide decisions.

"This speaks to a wider problem with Greater Glasgow and Clyde and why it doesn't work. Where you have one centre with a large population like Glasgow and Renfrewshire, then you have Inverclyde with a smaller population then when if the decisions are made based on population then every service will always be reduced in Inverclyde.

"Health services should not be based on population they should be based on levels of deprivation, health inequalities and poverty.

There was a huge response to the public consultation in Inverclyde with 772 responses, with only the Glasgow area polling more.

A huge 78 per cent of those who responded were against the proposals to reduce the GP out of hours service in Inverclyde.

NHS GGC say their decision is based on data that showed on average, only three people from Inverclyde use the service midweek, and on average one overnight.

They also said that there are now more than 40 GPs in place to man the GP out of hours service across Inverclyde with a mix of telephone appointments 

But out of the five centres now set up across the health board area Inverclyde is the only one without a full seven days a week, evening and overnight service.

Councillor McCluskey said: "My inbox from constituents is full of people who have had problems accessing a GP.

"One person told me that she'd tried for four days to access a GP during the day.

"She phoned NHS 24 and was told she would need to go to Paisley, she didn't want to go to Paisley so ended up going to A&E for a chest x-ray and antibiotics.

"Who can blame her? That is just one example of someone who would have went to a GP out of hours if it was there when she needed it."

The Scottish Government said GP out of hours was a matter for the health board.

A spokesperson added: "The Scottish Government expects NHS boards to provide a safe and sustainable out of hours service for their population needs.”