NHS Highland are pursuing their controversial plans for a new hospital on Skye in the face of considerable opposition.
The health board will discuss a business case for the plans next week, with a view to submitting a funding request to the Scottish Capital Investment Group.
Plans to build a new hospital and resource centre in Broadford and a smaller “spoke” facility in Portree were signed off by Scottish Government health secretary Shona Robison earlier this year.
However, a campaign group has claimed that the changes would detrimental to people living in the more populated north of Skye, with Broadford 24 miles south of Portree.
In a report to the board’s project director and NHS Highland’s director of operations for the north and west Gill McVicar said that for the plan to be deemed financially viable, it would be need to be submitted as part of a bundle with other capital projects.
The Skye plan, to cost around £15million, could be submitted alongside plans for a similar redesign of services in Badenoch and Strathspey.
The board have already agreed plans to build a new hospital in Aviemore for around £12-15million, eventually leading to the closure of the Ian Charles Hospital in Grantown and the St Vincent’s Hospital in Kingussie.
The Scottish Government have a funding cap of £30million for any single bundle submitted.
A near 200 page document outlining the board’s proposals is expected to be submitted for consideration by the start of September.
Mrs McVicar said that the existing services would remain open until the new facilities are in place.
She added: “The catchment area for the redesign includes the communities of Skye, Lochalsh and south-west Ross.
“There is currently no community hospital in Wester Ross or Lochalsh, however the Skye Bridge has improved access to facilities on Skye.
“Specifically on Skye there are two local community hospitals. These are not designed to meet modern standards, face operational and clinical challenges in staffing two hospitals in close proximity and have significant backlog maintenance costs.”
Health secretary Ms Robison said that the board had made a “compelling case” for the redesign.
But campaigners from the north of the island have repeatedly warned that dependence on Broadford Hospital, 24 miles away, was “ill thought-out” and would cost lives.
Mrs McVicar said that 90% of 2,273 responses from the public regarding the plans backed their “hub and spoke” model.