Jackie Baillie has praised staff at the Vale of Leven Hospital as it was revealed that more than 7500 people have attended the out-of-hours unit in the past year.

Figures released to the Dumbarton constituency MSP through Freedom of Information legislation show that 7637 patients have been seen at the facility since the start of March 2022 up until the end of February 2023.

Some 1932 of those who attended were walk-ins, making up a quarter of all patients during the last year.

In February 2021, the out-of-hours unit was fully reinstated having been subject to disruption over the previous years.

The service then became available across evenings, weekends and overnight.

Problems had arisen due to the difficulty in finding enough medical professionals to staff the service. However NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed to the Dumbarton constituency MSP that there are currently 34 GPs contracted to work a four-week rota as well as 10 GPs who work as and when required.

The health board also confirmed that, since the service was fully reinstated in February 2021, there “has never been a gap in service and there have always been GPs available to provide continual running of out-of-hours via the VOLGP Integrated Care service”.

Jackie Baillie said: “It is pleasing that, since the out-of-hours service at the Vale of Leven Hospital was properly reinstated in February 2021 that patients have been able to access the care they should expect locally.

“It is testament to the hard-working staff at the Vale of Leven Hospital and the GPs responsible for the out-of-hours service that this has been sustained over the last two years following a prolonged period of uncertainty.

“The important aspect now is that this service continues and that patients receive care when they need it. In the past the service was patchy and often cancelled due to a lack of staffing.

“The SNP have already cut £65million from the primary care development fund in the last financial year which threatens the availability of local health services.

“I will do all that I can to support the hard working staff at the Vale of Leven hospital and welcome the improvement in the out-of-hours service.”