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£120million for new Aberdeen maternity hospital

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A new maternity hospital and cancer centre will transform care for north-east patients, NHS Grampian bosses said last night.

The long-awaited developments will be built, thanks to a £120million investment announced by the Scottish Government yesterday.

The funding has been welcomed by health chiefs following a string of damaging revelations about failings in maternity care and missed cancer targets.

NHS Grampian deputy chief executive Dr Pauline Strachan said the project would allow the health board to “transform services for women and cancer patients”.

Aberdeen Maternity Hospital

Both facilities will be constructed on the Foresterhill site in Aberdeen.

Under the proposals, the new maternity hospital will continue to provide all existing services such as specialist obstetrics and neonatal services.

It would also include a planned community maternity unit for Aberdeen and surrounding area, alongside services such as gynaecology.

NHS Grampian said the unit would likely be situated close to the children’s hospital to improve access to the neonatal unit and specialist staff.

The cancer centre is expected to be situated in the same area of Foresterhill, next to the new Matthew Hay building which opened in December 2012.

It will be linked to the recently commissioned £25million radiotherapy centre.

The Scottish Government said the £120million was being made available under the non-profit distributing (NPD) model – an alternative to the private finance initiative, designed to cap returns to private sector investors.

NHS Grampian chairman Bill Howatson said: “The commitment made today by the Scottish Government represents a huge investment in health services in the north-east.

“It reflects the good working relationship which exists between the board and Scottish Government and I am very pleased that, with input from staff and patients, we have been able to make out the case for transforming services for women and cancer patients.”

Aberdeen Maternity Hospital has been criticised on a number of fronts this year. Healthcare Environment Inspectorate found a catalogue of failings including spots of blood and dust in operating theatres and “clean items” stored in dirty areas.

Last month it emerged that thousands of new mums had been discharged in the middle of the night, despite warnings that the practice could be putting newborns at greater risk.

On Tuesday it emerged that NHS Grampian had the worst record in Scotland for a key cancer treatment target. Last year it managed to treat just 85.6% of patients within 62 days of urgent referral with a suspicion of cancer – well below the 95% standard.

Health Secretary Alex Neil said the £120million reflected the government’s “clear commitment” to “high quality care in high quality health facilities”.

Aberdeen Donside SNP MSP Mark McDonald said: “This investment will ensure that the people of the north-east benefit from care in state-of-the-art facilities, and coupled with the recent increase in funding to NHS Grampian, which was above the national average, shows the strong commitment of the Scottish Government to healthcare delivery in the north-east.”

North-east Scottish Conservative MSP, Dr Nanette Milne, said NHS Grampian had been unable to take forward the projects until now because it had been “short changed” for too long, but added: “This is a welcome financial boost and will help develop the first-class health services we all want to see delivered for patients.”