South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has warned NHS Dumfries and Galloway not to axe more services at the Galloway Community Hospital in Stranraer, as the health board wrestle with a projected £54 million deficit.

The local MSP was speaking at a public meeting in Stranraer at the weekend, called by the Galloway Hospital Action Group, amid fears that services could be lost at the hospital when NHS Dumfries and Galloway carry out a proposed review of services at the Galloway.

Although the health board say the review is separate from the current financial challenges they face after they were ordered by the Scottish Government to make savings of £29 million during the forthcoming financial year, the local MSP says it is “fantasy” to think the cost cutting won’t be a factor in any review.

The health board face a deficit of £35 million in the forthcoming financial year, and project this could rise to £54 million by 2025.

Speaking at the public meeting in Stranraer Colin Smyth said: “I have never known the crisis in our NHS to be so bad.

“My inbox is full of heart breaking cases from cancer patients who can’t get carers to people having to use their life savings to pay for routine hip and knee replacements privately because they are told they will have to wait years not months on the NHS.

“No one in our region can register with an NHS dentist and our hospitals are full of delayed discharge patients because they have no care packages at home.

“I wish I could say things will get better but the financial deficit the local health board face means we will see cuts in more services.

“However, my message to NHS Dumfries and Galloway is clear. When you look for those cuts – hands off the Galloway Hospital.

“We have already seen a steady erosion of provision in recent years in the west of the region.

“It’s not as if people in Wigtownshire current get fair access to service. Ask any mum to-be who has to go to Dumfries if they want to give birth in hospital because the maternity unit at the Galloway is closed, or a cancer patient who faces a gruelling journey to Edinburgh for treatment rather than Glasgow.

“I recognise the local health board face huge financial difficulties and a recruitment crisis caused by UK Government’s austerity and the utter failure of the Scottish Government to train enough doctors and nurses.

“But everyone has a right, wherever you live in Dumfries and Galloway or any part of Scotland, to have access to the minimum level of service. That isn’t the case for people in Wigtownshire and we cannot afford any more cuts.”