The decision making process around changes to the region’s health and social care services has come under the spotlight at the council.
Members debated a motion calling on them to “undertake to work collegiately, robustly scrutinise, and where appropriate, challenge any localised threat to health and social care partnership services”.
It was lodged by Councillors Dougie Campbell and Willie Scobie, who are concerned about the closure of cottage hospitals and the future of Galloway Community Hospital in Stranraer.
Members accepted an amendment that there is a need to work “collaboratively” and that they need to help offer solutions. The motion was sparked by the region’s integration joint board considering consulting on the permanent closure of four cottage hospitals – including Kirkcudbright – which have been mothballed since the coronavirus pandemic.