HEALTH care staff working in one of Glasgow’s most deprived areas have raised concerns over the safety of their new multi-million pound development.

Woodside Health and Care Centre on Barr Street is due to be replaced by a new £20 million facility in the North West of the city by the end of the year.

Ahead of its completion, staff working in the GP surgeries and pharmacy have hit out at the health board for refusing to include glass panels on their receptions desks.

Those working on the front line have said they believe glass screens are a ‘necessity’ to protect them from the minority of patients who act in an aggressive and intimidating manner.

The protective measures have been in place at the current centre for 30 years but have been left out of the designs for the new build, despite repeated requests.

Staff say a number of incidents have taken place in recent years in the health centre and pharmacy in which the police had to be called.

However, Glasgow City HSCP state that the panels have been excluded to ‘conform to the Scottish Government’s principle of open plan spaces in public buildings’.

A spokesman for the Glasgow City HSCP added: “When it opens, the new building will share the same state-of-the-art design as the nearby health and social care centres in Maryhill and the Gorbals.

“We have carried out extensive engagement with our staff regarding the layout of the centre.

“This has been designed to promote effective communication, respect, and dignity and to deliver a more welcoming environment for patients and service users.”

The existing centre is located within a dense housing development in an area characterised by health bosses as having ‘severe and enduring poverty and urban deprivation.’

It is hoped the project will facilitate ‘fundamental change’ in the way health is delivered to the people of Woodside and surrounding areas with the underlying aim of reshaping services from a patient’s point of view.

The centre will be home to GP and dental services, physiotherapy, older people day services, district nursing and the older people’s team.

Anas Sarwar MSP said: “These are deeply troubling reports.

“Our NHS staff do fantastic work and their safety is a paramount concern.

“The decision not to install these screens must be urgently reviewed and the concerns of staff properly taken into account.”