The start of construction on a new £7.6 million health centre in Aberdeen has been marked with a ceremonial turf cutting.
Foresterhill Health Centre will house two GP practices, Elmbank Group Practice and Westburn Medical Group, and serve more than 15,000 patients by providing over 1,000 appointments a week.
The cutting of the turf was performed by Dr Guru Padubidare from Elmbank and Westburn practice manager, Kari Millar, alongside NHS Grampian chairman, Stephen Logan.
The three-storey building will host a retail pharmacy as well as a base for staff from Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership.
The Partnership team will include health visitors, district nurses, community midwifery; occupational therapy and direct delivery and care management teams.
The health centre will also offer dedicated space for Allied Health Professionals who will provide speech and language therapy, podiatry and dietetics.
Professor Logan said the construction of the new health centre was a crucial step in the board’s plan to build £150million of new facilities on the Foresterhill Health Campus over the next five years.
He added: “This is a crucial moment for the future of health and social care in Aberdeen.
“Not only will this offer an opportunity to provide a huge step forwards in the standard of facilities available to users of Foresterhill Health Centre, the relocation of the existing building will pave the way for the £150million ANCHOR cancer centre and Baird Family Hospital.
“These will be truly world-class facilities and the benefits they bring shouldn’t be underestimated. They will also help us attract medical professionals from across the country and further afield.”
Stan Mathieson, Project Director for NHS Grampian, said: “The health centre has been designed with patient and staff needs at its heart and we are grateful to everyone who has contributed their feedback.
“One of the things people were clear about were the parking facilities and we are pleased that we’ve been able to take those needs on board.
“The centre will feature 86 dedicated spaces which are completely separate from the rest of the Foresterhill site and for the exclusive use of patients and staff from the health centre.”
