Greenock and Inverclyde MSP to meet with Royal Mail bosses over delays

ROYAL Mail bosses are set to meet with Inverclyde’s MSP to discuss postal delays in the area.

More than 160 constituents have contacted Stuart McMillan’s office to say they were impacted by delays which have been plaguing local postal services in the last few months, leading some to miss hospital appointments and jury citations.

The MSP has raised his concerns about the delays at First Minister’s Questions at the Scottish Parliament just before Christmas and has visited the local sorting office to understand the issue.

He is now set to meet with Royal Mail’s director of external affairs and policy David Gold and Louise McBride, lead customer operations manager at Inverclyde Delivery Office, on January 29.

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Mr McMillan also contacted NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to see what can be done to ensure constituents are not negatively impacted by appointment letters and other medical documents which are missed or delayed due to the postal issues.

Among the solutions which have been floated is the possibility of using an NHS barcode system that enables Royal Mail to identify NHS letters.

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “It is understood that the barcode system referred to is a process that can be used with mail being processed via local hospital sites franking machines.

“Only limited amounts of 1st class mail, along with packets and parcels are processed via hospital franking machines.

“I can confirm that a meeting is being arranged by procurement colleagues with our Royal Mail account manager to discuss these issues in more detail, to explore the barcoding option fully, and to discuss the opportunities for Royal Mail to identify NHS mail given they currently uplift and frank on our behalf.”