Half a billion pounds of NHS facilities set to go live

Nearly £500 million of new healthcare facilities, including the new Sick Children’s hospital at Little France and North West Edinburgh’s Partnership Centre in Pennywell, are expected to open to patients in 2017-18.

Funded through Scottish Government investment, these new NHS and local council facilities will provide patients across Scotland with treatment in purpose-built, 21^st century settings.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will visit the site of the new £212 million Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary tomorrow to see progress with the project – as part of a series of engagements with a specific focus on investment in Scotland’s health service.

It is one of four projects due to open in the next financial year and forms part of a programme of capital investment in the NHS estate worth over £2 billion between 2013-14 and 2017-18.

This has seen the completion or expected completion of six new health and social care facilities in 2016-17, including a new community hospital in Ayrshire & Arran, two health centres in Glasgow and a new national centre for Scotland’s blood transfusion service.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said the continued investment in new healthcare facilities would ensure NHS Scotland remains at the forefront of providing safe, effective and high-quality care.

Ms Robison said: “As we enter a new year, it seems apt to reflect on the significant progress made in delivering some key new facilities, which are already beginning to transform the care thousands of patients receive every day.

“Looking ahead, nearly half a billion pounds of hospitals and health centres will be completed in 2017-18 – making care more effective, efficient and safe.

“Our investment in these new facilities will help us to achieve our ambition of transforming the way health and social care services are delivered, keeping NHS Scotland at the forefront of delivering world-class care.”

Projects due for completion in 2017-18 are:

• The new Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, replacing the existing, ageing hospital and providing 344 single bedded en-suite rooms and purpose built wards and theatres using the most advanced technology. The £212 million facility is due to open at the end of 2017.
• The new Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences based at Little France in Edinburgh. The £230 million NHS Lothian project is due to open to patients in early 2018.
• The refurbishment and upgrade of seven operating theatres and a new Intensive Care Unit at Monklands Hospital. The £20 million project is being run by NHS Lanarkshire and is expected to complete in early 2018.
• Three new health and care centres in Blackburn, north-west Edinburgh (above) and Firhill, providing new facilities for local healthcare and council-run services in the community. The £25 million project is expected to complete in 2018.

Projects completed or expected to be completed in 2016-17 are:

• The Phase 1 redevelopment of the Royal Edinburgh Campus, providing new accommodation for a range of NHS Lothian mental health services, as well as the Robert Fergusson national brain injury unit. The £48 million project was completed in December 2016.
• NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s £28 million Building for Better Care programme, which includes the redevelopment of University Hospital Ayr’s A&E department and the expansion of the intensive care and high dependency units at Crosshouse Hospital and University Hospital Ayr. This is expected to be fully complete in early 2017.
• The new Woodland View Hospital serving east, north and south Ayrshire, providing acute and community mental health services (with 206 inpatient beds). The £55 million project opened in May 2016.
• The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service National Centre, providing new state-of-the art facilities for the processing and storage of blood products, as well as allowing NHS National Services Scotland to develop its research potential. The £38 million project is expected to be finished in early 2017.
• The Eastwood and Maryhill Health Centres which bring together a range of local services under one roof, including GP practices, physiotherapy, mental health, sexual health and social care. The NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde projects, which total £27 million, both opened to patients in summer 2016.