Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Have your say on surgery relocation
NHS Lanarkshire is again encouraging residents to have their say on its plans to relocate all planned orthopaedic surgery to the new Monklands Hospital.
A public meeting will take place online later this month, and the current consultation process runs until September 15.
The health board is proposing to locate all elective hip, knee and shoulder surgery – currently carried out at Hairmyres in East Kilbride – to the state-of-the-art new hospital in Airdrie when it opens in approximately 2028.
Consultation is taking place at this time to allow a decision on the service’s location to be made before the end of the year, when the outline business case for the new hospital is due to be submitted for Scottish Government approval.
NHS Lanarkshire medical director Dr Jane Burns said the new structure “would help cater for the growing need” of the people of Lanarkshire for joint replacements as we live longer lives.
She added: “The new hospital will have the most modern clinical facilities and a single room for every patient, which is ideal for exercise and rehabilitation and has been shown to reduce the time spent in hospital and lessen the risk of infection.
“Relocation would also give a major opportunity for other services to be improved at Hairmyres – this could include bringing surgery currently undertaken in the independent sector back [there], and the desired expansion of the new regional vascular surgery service.
“These opportunities, and other options to make best use of all of our surgical facilities, will be explored as NHS Lanarkshire develops and engages on our new healthcare strategy in the coming months.”
Planned orthopaedic surgery was concentrated at Hairmyres five years ago as NHS Lanarkshire worked on moving towards the “gold standard” of having distinct trauma and elective orthopaedic teams.
Wishaw General is the home of Lanarkshire’s trauma specialist team, as part of a West of Scotland network, and is unaffected by the current consultation.
Residents can complete the consultation survey online, while an information page about the project has also been set up.
Participants can register for the virtual public meeting by emailing or by calling 01236 713348.