North East Fife Liberal Democrat MP Menzies Campbell has written to Mary Dickson the Managing Director of First Scotrail about the lack of disabled access at Cupar, Springfield and Ladybank Stations.
Commenting Menzies Campbell said “This is an unacceptable situation made worse by the apparent lack of any future programme to provide the necessary disabled access. The situation is particularily unsatisfactory at Cupar Station because it is so well used.
Could you please advise who to contact when unable to obtain access to my registered GP. The surgery is upstairs and no lift is available. There is wheelchair access to the ground floor only, so my consultation with a doctor is limited to those doctors I have been told on ocassions that there are appointments with the GPs upstairs biut they wouldnt be any use to me because there was no access. I think this is breaking the disability rights act, am I right? any Thanks Cynthia Barnes-White.
Dear Ms Barnes-White,
Thank you for your post. Sir Menzies has asked me to respond to you on his behalf. We have contacted the Disability Rights Commission about your enquiry.
The answer we received is that while the surgery has GPs on the ground floor, if you are registered with a doctor who has a surgery on the first floor, you should be able to expect the surgery to make adjustments to allow you to see your preferred doctor. This should be considered a ‘reasonable adjustment’. However, the wording of the legislation as ‘reasonable adjustment’ is of course open to interpretation.
I attach the DRC number (08457 622 633) which you may wish to contact for further information. Also, your doctor’s surgery should have it’s own equality plan which you can ask to read.
Yours sincerely,
Anne-Marie Bunting
Correspondence Manager, Office of Sir Menzies Campbell MP