Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Meeting to decide hospital site choice
A recommended site for the new Monklands Hospital is finally set to be determined at an NHS Lanarkshire meeting next week.
Board members will take part in an online meeting on Wednesday to decide which of the three potential sites – at Gartcosh, Glenmavis or Wester Moffat – should be put forward to the health secretary as the preferred location for the new £ 400 million hospital.
Their recommendation will then go forward to health secretary Jeane Freeman, who will make the final decision.
NHS Lanarkshire board chair Neena Mahal said: “We would like to thank the public and our staff for their participation during the extensive engagement process on the Monklands replacement project.
“The community’s valuable feedback on the three site options will be among a set of detailed information that will be fully considered by the board in determining its recommendation for a preferred site.”
Wester Mo f f at was identified as the top
scoring option when 400 patients and staff rated the three sites during a postal scoring process carried out this summer, receiving a rating of 195.74 points after participants assessed travel times for patients and workers, connectivity, site contamination and impact of patients travelling from neighbouring areas of Glasgow.
It came ahead of the former steelworks site at Gartcosh – originally named as the preferred location in 2018 before the process was re-run after considerable public and political feedback – which received 194.12; while the other potential Airdrie site at Glenmavis scored 156.84 points.
Airdrie parliamentarians Alex Neil MSP and Neil Gray MP are continuing their campaign to ensure the new hospital remains located in the town, maintaining that“to select Gartcosh would be crazy”.
Mr Neil said: “we have waited a long time for this decision – let us hope common sense prevails and the new hospital will be built in Airdrie.”
“Once the board has made its recommendation, the final decision will rest with the Scottish Government; and along with Neil Gray, I will be doing all I can to ensure that the government makes a decision quickly.
“We need to end the uncertainty surrounding the choice of a new site for the hospital as a matter of urgency – we can then get on with the job of getting the new hospital built, a huge project which will create hundreds of new jobs in the area.”
Mr Gray agreed: “Wester Moffat is the highest-scoring option of the three potential sites, and it’s time now for NHS Lanarkshire to confirm this as their recommendation.
“The people of Monklands, who need and use the hospital most, have made it clear that they do not want Gartcosh and would prefer Wester Moffat. The majority of locally-based hospital staff also agree.
“Alex Neil and I have done all we can over the last few years to see a new hospital that local people need and deserve, but also to see it built in the right place.”