Call to open books on Dunbar repair bill
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A CALL was made this week for local health bosses to provide details of the cost of repairing buildings at the Dunbar Hospital in Thurso.
It came from Far North MSP Rob Gibson who accused the North Highland Community Health Partnership of failing to discuss the cost of the repairs.
He is concerned it is claiming the condition of the buildings is one of the factors driving the west Caithness redesign plan.
The other reasons given by local health chiefs include the increasing number of elderly people – the figure is expected to double in the next 25 years – and health inflation going up by more than budget increases.
Mr Gibson, the SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said a report published last year indicated it would cost £150,000 to rectify subsidence problems at the physiotherapy unit.
But, as far as he is aware, no other detailed information has been divulged by the CHP about the cost of repairing some of the remaining buildings.
He has not seen details about such costs but intended raising the matter when he met health chiefs in Inverness yesterday for a briefing on the future plans for the Thurso hospital.
“There has been no discussion about the actual costs of repairing the buildings and that is what people need to know,” he said.
“It is public money that pays for the NHS and the NHS needs to be transparent with the public about issues such as the cost of repairs at the Dunbar.
“We must keep up the pressure to uncover why the North Highland CHP has failed to discuss the cost of repairs to the Dunbar buildings and used their current state to precipitate the plan to ‘develop the site as a centre of excellence for healthcare in Thurso’.”
Mr Gibson also called for the report which highlighted the subsidence at the physiotherapy unit to be published as it helped to underpin the argument for wider changes.
Caithness locality general manager Pauline Craw said many of the problems relate to temporary buildings which have reached the point where they are beyond repair.
She stressed that the difficulties were not specific to the Dunbar and said there were also challenges at the Lawson Memorial in Golspie where services had been ?“significantly redesigned”.
She pointed out that in a letter – published in the John O’Groat Journal on December 2 – it was stated the current backlog for maintenance at the Dunbar is £976,000.
No breakdown of the figure was given at that time but the Groat has found out the sum includes the £150,000 to rectify the subsidence at the physiotherapy gym, as well as the cost of carrying out substantial roof repairs and repairing and repointing the stonework on the main hospital building.
In addition, the nurses’ accommodation has to be completely refurbished while some of the external drainage and water tanks need replacing, as does the heating system.
Funding is not available to carry out the work needed to bring the Dunbar up to the required standard for inpatient care.
“However, even if we carried out all this work, it would simply put the building back to the condition it was in on the day it opened,” said Mrs Craw.
“It would not bring it up to modern healthcare standards,” she said, pointing out that the cost of bringing all NHS Highland buildings up to standard was estimated to be around £80 million.
She said NHS Highland and the Highland Council are working closely to make sure the relevant resources are in place to ensure more people can be cared for in their own homes and remain independent as long as possible.
“The vast majority of people are saying this is what they want – the challenge is now making it happen,” ?added Mrs Craw.
