Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Feedback on hospital plans ‘very valuable’
NHS Lanarkshire officials are compiling feedback from the recent public consultation on proposals for the new Monklands Hospital site as part of their official planning application.
They described the input from patients, staff and residents as “very valuable” after the month-long online exercise to seek views on the plans for the new £400m facility at Wester Moffat.
Consultation closed on March 29 and the health board will include the feedback in their application to North Lanarkshire Council, due to be submitted later this year.
Project director Graeme Reid said: “The comments we received during our online consultation events and through the other feedback channels will help us to shape the final proposals before we submit our planning application.
“We will produce a detailed consultation report which will be provided to North Lanarkshire Council along with the application when it is submitted later this year.
“Once the detailed design has been submitted for permission, there will be a further opportunity for the community to comment directly to the council on the proposals, to inform the local authority’s consideration of the application.”
NHS Lanarkshire first announced plans to relocate and rebuild the Airdrie hospital nearly four years ago, with the 142-hectare farmland site at Wester Moffat being confirmed as its location last year.
The new hospital is designed around a “village concept”, locating key departments side by side and making use of state-of-the-art technology to aid patient care.
It will also make use of its farmland setting, while the hospital will be served by the planned East Airdrie link road.
Karen Goudie, Monklands’ chief of nursing services, said: “We have an incredible future ahead of us with the design and building of our state-of-theart hospital in Wester Moffat.
“This is a really important venture for us to create an environment where staff can flourish [with] the support not only of the technology that we will provide to help them keep patients safe, but in an environment that looks after their wellbeing.
“Our ambition is to create a hospital that has the highest level of digital technology.”