Land adjacent to Noss Primary School is preferred site for Wick care hub
A site on the northern edge of Wick has been confirmed by NHS Highland as the preferred location for a new community hub and care village.
The proposed development, along with a similar facility at Thurso's Dunbar Hospital, is one of the key parts of wider proposals to redesign, modernise and improve health and social care services in the county.
The greenfield Wick site, adjacent to Noss Primary School, was agreed in principle as the preferred location at a recent meeting of the Caithness and North Sutherland Redesign Programme Board.
Initially suggested by a member of the public during a formal consultation exercise, it was one of three potential sites to be considered. The others were at the Town and County Hospital and Pulteney House care home.
Following full appraisals of the three locations, it was agreed that the Noss site – currently owned by Highland Council – was the most suitable, would pose least disruption to current services, is able to accommodate all aspects of the design brief and has the potential to expand to accommodate additional “care village” features in the future.
Christian Nicolson, NHS Highland’s Caithness district manager, said: “Caithness is facing significant demographic challenges. The population is ageing, with a decline in the number of people of working age.
"The planned care hubs at Wick and Thurso will play an important role in the modernisation and improvement of health and social care services in Caithness, bringing 24/7 elements together in one place to improve the long-term sustainability of our services.
“All three potential sites were thoroughly appraised and the selection of the Noss site as the preferred location is a significant milestone in this important project.
“The proposed buildings [care hubs in Wick and Thurso and a reconfiguration of Caithness General Hospital in Wick] are just one element of a much wider programme of transformational service change seeking to fundamentally redesign how we deliver adult health and social care services for people living in Caithness.”
A “pop-up shop” public consultation exercise carried out in Wick in 2019 found 60 per cent of people in favour of the Noss site for the new hub, compared with 20 per cent for the Town and County Hospital and five per cent for Pulteney House.