NHS bosses have been urged to prioritise Glasgow’s deprived East End for investment after the area’s last in-patient hospital moved a step closer to closure.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde yesterday voted to shut Lightburn Hospital, which provides rehabilitative care for elderly people who have suffered strokes or other illnesses.

The final decision will now rest with Health Secretary, Shona Robison.

Under the plans, patients requiring acute and day care will go to the new Stobhill or Glasgow Royal Infirmary while others will be transferred to care homes for rehabilitation or treated in their own homes.

Jeanette Donnelly, board member, said: “The north of Glasgow and the east of Glasgow are different communities.

“People in Easterhouse don’t think a service in Springburn is local.

“This will be seen very much as disinvestment in the east end.”

She said plans to create a new health centre in Parkhead would seem “light years away” to residents.

John Brown, chairman of NHSGGC admitted it was difficult to persuade people that shutting a local service would result in patients receiving a better standard of care elsewhere.

Campaigners vowed to fight on to save the hospital.

Gerry McCann from the Save Lightburn Campaign said: “Their choice to shut the only local hospital left in the area is a real slap in the face for local people.

“The battle goes on. The Save Lightburn Campaign will launch a public petition and build on the cross-party support we’ve already enjoyed to make sure that Ms Robison hears our case.”

The board say services at Lightburn are limited in range and volume and that patients will have access to improved care at the bigger hospitals.

Politicians were also angry at the decision to close.

Ivan McKee, Provan SNP MSP, said: “If enacted, they will deprive the East End of Glasgow – an area with significant health inequalities - of much-needed community hospital-based health care provision.

“If the case against Lightburn is based on its comparatively poor unmodern facilities, then this is because the Health Board did not invest in it as directed by the Cabinet Secretary for Health when she rejected identical proposals for closure back in 2011.”

Anas Sarwar Labour’s health spokesman said: ““It’s now time for SNP ministers in Edinburgh to make good on promises that services were safe, step in, and stop this senseless closure.

“The Scottish Parliament has voted for the government to make a decision on Lightburn’s future and Labour wants to see it stay open, as the SNP promised it would. Anything less would be completely unacceptable.”

Catherine Crawford, Scotland Director at Parkinson’s UK, warned that people suffering from the condition would face “difficult journeys” to get the support they need.

She said: “This is desperately sad news for people with Parkinson’s and other long term heath conditions in the East End of Glasgow.”

In 2011, the then health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon intervened to save the hospital. 

The health board say the position has now changed because the balance of care of the elderly has shifted to community services and home care.