Aviemore option named for new hospital
Health chiefs have promised better services for every patient in the strath when a new Aviemore hospital is built in the next three or four years.
The pledge followed a decision by the NHS Highland board this week to approve the new facility for a site which is likely to be the town’s technology park.
It hinges on the Scottish Health Secretary’s blessing.
While the timescale is not yet clear, it is hoped the new hospital will be open before the end of 2018.
The £12million facility will replace Aviemore’s existing health centre along with two cherished hospitals, the Ian Charles in Grantown and St Vincent’s in Kingussie where essential upgrades were deemed too costly.
Separate GP services will be maintained, but agreement on a geographically central hospital has prompted complaints from some people outwith Aviemore that their local services would automatically suffer as a consequence.
There was, nevertheless, just one dissenting voice at the board meeting in Inverness, where members unanimously agreed to a endorse proposals for a community hospital and resource centre in Aviemore.
Alternative options – of doing “the minimum” and of building a new hospital but “scaling down” existing services – were dropped.
It was the culmination of five years of debate and followed the latest public and staff consultations on the future of the service.
The Grantown and Kingussie hospitals will remain open until the new services are in place.
The new hospital will provide a wide range of services including A&E and outpatient clinics. The annual running cost would be an estimated £2million compared with £3.2million for the existing facilities.
Board members made their decision with consultation data in front of them showing that 79% agreed with the proposal to develop a community hospital in Aviemore “with wider development of community services”.
Other potential sites of Grainish Farm, Milton and the pony field beside the Macdonald resort were discounted.
More on this story in this week’s Strathy
