The only Out of Hours in West Dumbartonshire has been closed more than 100 times already this year.

According to figures seen by Jackie Baillie MSP, the service at the Vale of Leven Hospital has been closed 107 times since January.

Despite promises from health board chiefs in June that the problems at the hospital in Alexandria would be solved, the service suffered 41 closures between June and August alone.

The MSP has received numerous complaints from constituents who have been told that the service is closed - meaning they have to travel to the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley or Gartnavel to be seen by medics instead of being treated closer to home.

A spokesman from the Save the Vale group told the Reporter: “We have to triage people over the phone and then nine out of ten patients have to go outside the area.”

The service was closed a total of 83 times in 2018.

In June, Ms Baillie met with health board chiefs, including the chief executive Jane Grant.

She also spoke with Jeanne Freeman, cabinet secretary for health.

During the meeting, the health board promised that they were exploring all options to ensure that the service remained open to patients. So far, there has been no improvement.

Ms Baillie said: “It is clear that despite calls from the public and myself, the health board have made no changes to how the out of hours service is run.

“It still suffers from an eye watering number of closures.

“I know that the health board met with local clinicians, nurses and other hospital staff in August to discuss the way forward for the hospital.

“While this is welcome news, it is clear that action must be taken immediately to ensure patients have a reliable out of hours service.

“Patients cannot continue to suffer from continuous closures.

“The health board must take action urgently.”