The NHS Highland board yesterday approved the full business case for modernising operating theatres and critical care facilities at the north’s flagship hospital.
Board members gathered yesterday to discuss the plans for Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
But several members raised concerns about the lack of detail about any patient consultation.
Myra Duncan, chairwoman of the health and social care and organ donation committees, said: “I was looking for explicit details of patient benefits and patient input. There is a lot of detail about improving clerical practice and standards but I was also looking for what was important to the patients, things like privacy for instance.”
Non-executive member Melanie Newdick said she read through the entire business case on a five hour flight, adding: “I got that it will improve the clerical side of things, but from a patient point of view I did not get that sense of what it would mean to me.”
Board chairman Garry Coutts made the suggestion to hold a briefing to discuss the matter, but assured it would not affect the decision to approve the business case.
The scheme involves putting all of the critical care facilities into one area of the hospital, spread over two floors.
An extra operating theatre will also be built, bringing the total number to 10.
Among the issues identified with the existing theatre facilities are failures to meet current fire safety and infection control standards. Problems identified with critical care services include poor patient flow and a lack of isolated and high dependency beds.