Residents invited to help plan new Fort hospital
Lochaber residents are being given a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to help plan the replacement Belford Hospital at Blar Mhor in Fort William.
Highland Council will be hosting a workshop to discuss the Lochaber Health and Social Care Redesign with residents and assess the balance between services provided at home, in the community, in care homes and in the replacement for the Belford Hospital.
Working in collaboration with NHS Highland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, West Highland College UHI and the Scottish Government, Highland Council secured land in Fort William at Blar Mhor in 2015 which has been made available for a new hospital.
The council has submitted a notification of proposed development for the site masterplan and this week the proposals were noted at the south planning applications committee.
A workshop has been arranged for Thursday August 9. The event will be run by an external healthcare planner and will include representatives from NHS Highland, service users, third sector organisations and community representatives to help understand why changes are necessary and to start to plan for the future.
Deputy director for NHS Highland’s north and west operational unit Tracy Ligema said: ‘The workshop will help us to illustrate the strategic case for change and what this will mean for services in the future.
‘Some of the challenges we face include building constraints. We will also be highlighting the on-going need for closer links across hospital and community services. This is a once-in-alifetime opportunity for local people to redesign our rural general hospital alongside the services provided in the community.’
NHS Highland’s head of estates Eric Green said the new hospital will cost more than £30 million and stressed it is important to plan it right and involve local communities.
He said: ‘The most important thing is to get the clinical and care strategy right. Then we can design and build the hospital that will be the right size with the right services.’
Mr Green continued: ‘We are starting from a very good place because the redesign of health and social care services in Lochaber has progressed positively over the years.
‘There has long been a strong local ethos of trying to provide as much care out of hospital settings unless there is clinical need to do so. Being able to demonstrate what has already changed will be important when we come to make the business case for investment.’
The workshop will be held in Fort William from 10am to 3pm on Thursday August 9 with the venue to be confirmed.
A steering group has produced questions and answers that have been asked by members of the public, elected members and staff. The questions and answer document and other information about the redesign are available to view on the NHS Highland website. Anyone interested in attending the workshop should contact NHS Highland’s head of PR and engagement Maimie Thompson on 07814 618 591 or at Maimie.thompson@nhs.net for further information.