Grantown GPs and staff delighted with new health centre

GPs have said they are delighted with the newly refurbished Grantown Health Centre and especially the new extension.

Confirmation of the completion of the full project comes 13 months after the long-promised project looked set to be derailed indefinitely.

NHS Highland bosses had announced in February, last year, the new extension at the medical practice would not be going ahead for the foreseeable future.

The Scottish Government had announced the previous month that funding for all NHS capital projects was to be paused.

That meant the second part of the project was looking doomed until GPs and patient power won the day with a good deal of help from cross-party local MSPs.

Interim practice manager Julie Mcilwaine said: “The new heating system and insulation mean the building is much more environmentally friendly. It is a bright open space to work in.

“The extension has meant that NHS Highland employed staff are able to use the building on a regular basis due to additional space and consulting rooms.

“We are in the early stages of organising an open morning and will advertise this once it is finalised.

“We continue to be extremely grateful to the community for supporting us both during the disruption of the building work and the campaign to re-instate the funding for the extension.

The cross-party local MSPs said they are delighted patients are now using the new facilities.

Strathspey MSP Fergus Ewing (SNP) said: “Not many tales these days have a happy ending but the Grantown Health Centre story is one of them!

“It is great news that the health centre is completed and I very much look forward to meeting up again with the excellent staff and supporters at the open day in due course.

“It was unfortunate that the decision was ever taken to suspend the contract, and plainly this should not have happened , given that it was over two-thirds completed.

“It simply made no sense at all, and had that decision not been reversed then one suspects that - far from their being savings made - it would have cost more in the end.

“The campaign was won because the people of Grantown and vicinity came out to attend the public meeting thus showing the enormous support it has and strength of feeling.

“Then taken forward by myself working with Ed Mountain and Rhoda Grant , it showed that parties can work together for the greater good.

“It was an exemplary campaign which succeeded in a matter of weeks - and fair play to Cabinet Secretary Neil Gray for meeting us and then doing the right thing.”

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, said: “The community, working together with the GP practice, did a great job in raising the issue and pressing for the build to be continued.

“Working alongside my fellow MSPs, Fergus Ewing and Edward Mountain, I was pleased to bolster the community’s efforts to get the Scottish Government to commit to providing the remaining funding that was needed.

“While it was regrettable that the local health staff had to add this issue to their already challenging work commitments on the front line, it nonetheless shows that the power of communities working together to tackle the red tape can’t be underestimated.

“I look forward to visiting in coming weeks to see the expansion and am pleased that the community and the staff now have a building that is fit for purpose.”

Fellow regional MSP Edward Mountain (Scottish Conservative) said: “The new and improved Centre is a vital asset to the community and to the delivery of medical care in Grantown which is why my colleagues and I fought so hard for it last year.

“I was delighted to work with Fergus and Rhoda to ensure the centre’s funding and delivery, as I believe the power of this Parliament is when we have opportunities to work cross-party.

“My sadness is that politicians are only able to do this in disappointingly limited circumstances.”

NHS Highland confirm to the Strathy that the refurbishment work at the health centre has just been completed.

A spokesman said: “An extension has been built to facilitate four additional consulting rooms in addition to a minor injuries unit.

“There has been a complete refurbishment of existing rooms within the health centre as well as the waiting area and access to the facility has been improved.

“We want to thank the local community for their support with this project, and their patience as we have moved through the different stages of the work.

“We also want to thank our staff who have worked hard to ensure we have been able to maintain services from the health centre despite the disruption caused by this refurbishment.”

The work was a key part of the wider redesign of health services for the strath which included in May 2022 the opening of the Badenoch and Strathspey Community Hospital in Aviemore and closure of Ian Charles Hospital in Grantown and Kingussie's St Vincent's Hospital.

As part of the shake-up, the refurbishment of Kingussie and Grantown health centres was agreed to accommodate key services in both towns once both community hospital facilities were shut.

The Grantown facility’s refurbishment was the last part of the redesign project which has been more than a decade in the making.

There is expected to be an official opening along with the Scottish Government at a date yet to be confirmed.

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