More than 15,000 patients are expected to benefit from a £7.6 million health centre which will open its doors in Aberdeen today.
Construction work on Foresterhill Health Centre began in March last year, and was completed last week.
The three-storey building near Aberdeen Royal Infirmary will house two GP practices – Elmbank Group Practice and Westburn Medical Group – and offer more than 1,000 appointments a week.
Staff have been hard at work moving into their new base to welcome patients today.
Dr Chris Provan, from Elmbank Medical Practice, said: “We are absolutely delighted the building is finished.
“It looks fantastic. It’s bright, airy and offers a whole range of new and improved facilities.
“We’ve got a busy few days ahead of us while we complete the move but we are looking forward to seeing the first patients next week.
“It’s an exciting time and is the result of a lot of hard work by everyone involved.
“The building seems to have sprung up out of nowhere but I know behind the scenes the project team have worked tirelessly to make it happen so quickly.”
The health centre will also have a retail pharmacy and a base for staff from the Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership.
Dr Provan added: “We are also looking forward to the new opportunities having a multi-disciplinary team based within the same facility will gives us.
“It’ll allow us to offer an increasingly integrated, seamless service to our patients by providing community nursing, midwifery, health visitors, podiatry, speech and language as well as dietetics.”
The newly-completed project, which was overseen by hub North Scotland, is one of several underway at the Foresterhill Health Campus.
Preparatory works for a £163 million Baird Family Hospital, which will replace the existing maternity hospital, and Anchor cancer treatment centre at the site are expected to begin in the autumn.
Stan Mathieson, project director for NHS Grampian, said “This is an important milestone for the future of health care in the city.
“Not only does the new building offer a huge step forwards in the standard of facilities available to patients at Foresterhill Health Centre, its relocation will pave the way for the Anchor cancer centre and Baird Family Hospital, both of which will be truly world class facilities.”
