Major new Inverness medical centre 'will help attract more doctors and nurses to the Highlands'
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A £48 million new hospital facility in Inverness is so impressive that it may help to attract more health professionals to the Highlands in future, NHS Highland's chief believes.
CEO Pam Dudek made the remarks as the state-of-the-art new National Treatment Centre at Inverness Campus prepares to opens its doors to patients.
The first are expected to begin receiving treatment at the site from mid-April, and NHS Highland is gearing up to give public tours of the building beforehand to showcase the impressive new facilities.
The centre will host NHS Highland’s entire eye care service, including surgical and outpatient facilities, and will also deliver a range of elective orthopaedic care, offering hip and knee replacements, foot, ankle and hand surgery.
Related: PICTURES: Inside the NHS' new £48m National Treatment Centre in Inverness
When open, the centre will boast 275 staff – more than 200 of whom will be in newly-created roles – and once operating at full capacity will be capable of treating more than 900 outpatients every week.
It will also offer 24 patient beds, five operating theatres and 13 consulting rooms.
Recruitment drives to fill those new posts have exceeded expectations, Ms Dudek has said, with more than 90 per cent already taken.
And she believes the swifter-than-expected uptake is a positive sign not just of the centre's reception among health professionals, but also a possible indicator that the region is becoming more attractive as a place for people seeking to forge a career for themselves in medicine.
She said: "If you'd asked me in the beginning I was quite anxious about out ability to [recruit] staff, as I think we would have been reasonable to be. We had set out on a plan, and had milestones in the plan as to when we would recruit, and actually those have all come to fruition – so we're delighted.
"And I think there are probably a few reasons for that. I think the Aim High, Aim Highland campaign [which sought to encourage potential staff to relocate from other parts of the UK] definitely has been noticeable, and also that the offer perhaps of the working conditions and excitement of new technologies that go with [the centre] will be attractive for people.
She continued: "I really hope [the new centre] gives us a portfolio that makes this an attractive place to come and work. Obviously we've had other new facilities such as [new hospitals] at Broadford and Aviemore as well, and those are equally impressive facilities. So I think the more that people see what the Highlands has to offer, then the more chance it is an attractive place to come and work."
And she believes the region's growing attraction as a place to start or further a career will help to address historic issues the Highlands have had in recruiting and retaining health care professionals.
Ms Dudek said things are heading in the right direction: "I think we have seen, in one sense, increased interest generally. We still haven't got the critical mass of nurses everywhere that we would want, but we definitely have seen some improvement in that."
She is also confident that the site will help to ease waiting lists in the region.
