Doubts emerge over £80m redesign of Caithness health services
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Uncertainty surrounds the planned £80 million Caithness health redesign after it emerged that NHS Highland has been told to stop all spending on capital projects.
It is understood talks are taking place today to assess the impact on a number of construction schemes in the NHS Highland area – including community hub and care villages in Wick and Thurso, costing £55 million, and a reconfiguration of Caithness General Hospital.
In March 2022 it was estimated that the overall redesign cost would be between £76 million and £82m.
According to reports in recent days, Scottish health boards have been told to halt new construction projects until 2026 at the earliest.
The finance director of NHS Lothian was quoted by Construction News and others as saying health boards could now expect to wait two years or more for new capital investment.
A representative of Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) said he was disappointed but not surprised that major investment in the far north is now on hold, or at risk of being lost, and drew a parallel with the Highland Clearances.
A local Highland councillor called it "an absolute disgrace".
Other developments affected in the NHS Highland area include a £9 million plan to increase capacity at Raigmore Hospital's maternity unit in Inverness and a project to replace Fort William's Belford Hospital.
A spokesperson for NHS Highland said today: "In terms of capital projects, we have been advised to stop any project development spend. Instead, funds available should be focused on the maintenance of the estate and essential equipment and digital replacement.
"The main projects we are assessing are the Lochaber and Caithness redesigns, Cowal Community and the Raigmore Hospital maternity refurbishment.
"Our staff and communities have invested time and effort into these projects and we know this news will be difficult to hear. We are contacting key stakeholders as a priority so that we can work through the implications with them."
A response is awaited from the Scottish Government.
Last June it was announced that a design team had been appointed for the community hub and care villages in Wick and Thurso. Three leading consultant firms had been brought in by Hub North Scotland, which has been working with NHS Highland on the reshaping of health and social care services in Caithness.
The two sites are near Noss Primary School in Wick and at the Dunbar Hospital in Thurso.
A key aim is to bring together services and teams currently located in multiple sites, with the hubs featuring community and residential care beds, GP practice, outpatient consulting, therapy space and a base for community integrated teams.
The redesign also includes the redevelopment of Caithness General Hospital, to be delivered by Balfour Beatty.
In a social media post on behalf of CHAT, Iain Gregory, who joined the group last year, wrote: "Sadly, I have to say that I am not at all surprised to hear this news. Disappointed, yes – surprised, no.
"From about 1750 to around 1860 the Highlands suffered under the rule of greedy and avaricious landlords who cleared the people from the glens to make way for more profitable sheep – one of the most shameful episodes in the history of Scotland.
"And today, in 2024, just a few generations later, the people of the far north face a new clearance, and it is – once again – economic. Remove the vital services, healthcare, social support, infrastructure, employment, the basic structures needed for a community to be sustainable, allow our roads and streets to crumble, and the population will again be forced to move to the faraway cities, leaving this once beautiful and vibrant county to become nothing more than a vast wind farm.
"The road to Bute House [the First Minister's official residence] is indeed littered with broken promises. I await with great interest the reaction of our elected representatives.
"Kate Forbes [SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch and former finance secretary] has spoken. Can we now hear from the others? The people are waiting – and their patience is at an end."
Councillor Jan McEwan, who represents Wick and East Caithness on Highland Council, said: "It's an absolute disgrace, after the money and resources that have gone into this over the past few years. The Scottish Government obviously doesn’t regard Caithness and Sutherland as being part of Scotland."
More to follow.
