Plans have been lodged for the controversial new £15million community hospital on the isle of Skye.
The hospital in Broadford is part of the redesign of health and social care services on Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross, that will include alterations or refurbishment to the Portree Hospital building, as well as the Broadford and Kyle Health Centres.
Campaigners living in North Skye have raised concerns about the provision of services in Portree when the new Broadford Hospital opens.
As well as in-patient accommodation, the facility in Broadford will include an emergency department, X-ray and ultrasound services, out-patient clinics, an infusion suite and a midwife-led community maternity unit.
The site for the new hospital is located between the current Dr Mackinnon Memorial Hospital and Broadford Health Centre. An archaeological and ecological assessment of the site has been completed to identify any potential problems at an early stage. Initial results have been positive with no findings likely to affect construction.
NHS Highland’s project director for the Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross (SLSWR) redesign, Gill McVicar, said: “This is another exciting step forward. The submission of the planning application signals that we are at an advanced stage in the design of the new facility and we hope to have a positive conclusion to the application process.”
The new community hospital in Broadford is being designed and built by hub North Scotland Ltd, an initiative set up by the Scottish Futures Trust. Balfour Beatty is the main contractor working alongside architectural firms Oberlanders based in Edinburgh and Portree-based Rural Design – and engineering firms Waterman Group and Rybka.
The Full Business Case – which is combined with a redesign of services and a newbuild hospital in Badenoch and Strathspey – is scheduled to be presented to the Scottish Government in early 2019. Construction of both new hospitals, estimated to cost £30million in total, will commence once this is approved.
Meanwhile, further work is progressing with partner agencies and local communities to develop a business case for any additional services in SLSWR, as set out in the Sir Lewis Ritchie Report.
The report was commissioned by NHS Highland as a result of the concerns by the people in the Portree area.
Sir Lewis Ritchie, who led the review, made a series of recommendations for Portree, including that out-of-hours service be provided on a 24/7 basis and increasing ambulance cover.
