Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
A GIFT TO THE NHS
Land offer for hospital
A prominent Ai rdr i e businessman has offered to donate land at Glenmavis to NHS Lanarkshire for the construction of a new Monklands Hospital.
Ronnie Bartlett, pictured, chairman of vegetable firm Albert Bartlett, this week formally made the offer to health board officials to gift a 40-acre site at Glenmavis for the planned replacement hospital, at no cost.
NHS Lanarkshire is currently carrying out consultation on a proposal to build the new facility at the former steelworks site in Gartcosh – after that location came top in an options appraisal, ahead of Glenmavis.
The health board has responded, welcoming Mr Bartlett’s “kind and generous offer”, adding: “We will ensure this is reflected in our report to the board”, but noting that “land purchase is only one of several factors which influence cost/benefit analysis”. ●
Airdrie businessman Ronnie Bartlett said he will give land in Glenmavis to NHS Lanarkshire for the construction of the planned replacement for University Hospital Monklands.
The chairman of vegetable company Albert Bartlett wrote to health board officials this week to offer them the 40-acre site which came second in last month’s location appraisal exercise.
He told the Advertiser yesterday: “I welcome the proposal from NHS Lanarkshire to build a new hospital which the public from Airdrie, Coatbridge and surrounding areas will benefit from.
“I have a strong affinity with the local community, which is why I am keen to do what I can to assist.
“To this end I have offered a site on my land in Airdrie to NHS Lanarkshire for no cost.”
Mr Bartlett went on: “We’ve been in the town for a long time, a lot of our good key staff are from the area and we’re very keen to make sure that the people who benefit from it are the people of Airdrie, Coatbridge and the surrounding villages.
“We want them to put the hospital in the best place for people.”
NHS Lanarkshire gained Scottish Government approval last year to develop an outline business case for the replacement or refurbishment of the 40-year-old Airdrie hospital.
Officials announced in June that a new- build hospital on a new site had come top in an options appraisal involving patients, the public and staff representatives. Gartcosh emerged ahead of Glenmavis in a comparison of the two sites.
Colin Lauder, the health board’s director of planning, property and performance, told the Advertiser: “NHS Lanarkshire launched the consultation on the replacement or refurbishment of University Hospital Monklands in July and it will run until October 15.
“This outlines the clinical case for change, the challenges and benefits of rebuilding on the existing site and the advantages and disadvantages of both Gartcosh and Glenmavis.
“We received the letter from Mr Bartlett on Monday morning and welcome his kind and generous offer.
“We appreciate this will alter the financial analysis of the options outlined in the document and will ensure this is reflected in our report to the board in November.
“However, it is important to note that the value of land purchase is only one of several factors which influence the overall cost/benefit analysis of a site.”
Alex Neil, the Airdrie & Shotts MSP, believes the offer would make a difference of £6 to £8 million to the capital cost and said: “It was very tight between Gartcosh and Glenmavis and now circumstances have changed fundamentally.
“Ronnie Bartlett is born and bred in Airdrie. He’s very much an Airdrie man who wants to put something back into the community.
“The health board will need to go back to the drawing board to think again over the very generous offer from Bartlett’s and to correct mistakes in the appraisal.
“Neil Gray MP and I have made clear that we’re totally opposed to Gartcosh and this tips the scales against it even further as it reduces the capital cost of the land.”
Information stalls will be set up at Monklands Hospital next week, allowing patients, staff and the public to find out more about the ongoing consultation process and give their views.
The NHS Lanarkshire roadshows take place at the Airdrie hospital next Thursday, August 16, in the hospital restaurant from noon to 2pm, and then at the main entrance between 2pm and 4pm.