The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Insching towards another 100 years
Community reveals £900,000 plans to save mothballed hospital
CAMPAIGNERS have stepped up their fight to save Insch War Memorial Hospital by unveiling a bold £900,000 vision to reopen the wards to patients.
The hospital – which celebrated its centenary yesterday – was mothballed during the Covid pandemic.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has previously been accused of rolling back on her election pledge to reopen Insch as health bosses insist it doesn’t meet modern healthcare requirements.
But now The Friends of Insch Hospital and Community have drawn up plans to modernise the site as a wellbeing hub with 12 beds. They hope to work with NHS Grampian to make it a reality.
Dr Steve Teale, who has worked as a GP in Insch for 25 years, said it “would be a tremendous facility” and would tackle waiting lists.
Community members have drawn up their vision for a hospital of the future in Insch. The current facility, celebrating its 100th anniversary, was closed in March 2020 with staff redeployed to help pandemic efforts.
Two years on, the historic hospital has not reopened and health bosses say it no longer meets modern healthcare standards.
No firm plans have been confirmed for the site yet, although it has been decided to open up a wellbeing hub there instead.
Garioch residents have raised serious concerns over the loss of locally available beds at the hospital.
However, a charity which has worked tirelessly to keep health services in the community since 1989 has come up with new plans for the site.
And the group already has half the funds needed to pay for it.
The Friends of Insch Hospital and Community now hope they can work with NHS Grampian and the health and social care partnership to turn their vision into a reality.
Morris Tait has been a patient at the GP surgery at the hospital all his life, and has designed plans for a new modular extension.
This would be built on to the side of the day room and run parallel to the existing hospital building which is owned by NHS Grampian.
The plans show that the day room could be used as a clinical support area for staff.
All 12 patient beds would be based in separate rooms with en suites, adhering to current health regulations.
The existing hospital building would be used as the wellbeing hub.
Mr Tait, who lives near Chapel of Garioch, says the revamp could ease pressures on beds at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Before the pandemic, vital care was provided for patients in need of rehabilitation following surgery at ARI, as well as palliative care.
“The hospital here is very close to a lot of hearts in the community,” said Mr Tait, an architectural technician who has been a Friends trustee for two years.
“Many members of the community were born there, and many of their relatives have died there.
“But it’s not just that, it’s all the care that they have in between.”
Surveyors have calculated the total cost of the project to be around £900,000.
The charity already has half the money and are confident they could raise enough to pay for the full cost of the project.
Dr Steve Teale, who has worked as a GP at Insch Medical Practice for 25 years, said the new hospital building would be an “exciting development” for Insch.
“Having a community hospital was a central feature of the healthcare at Insch,” he said. “It really was the heart of the community.
“If you admitted somebody you just needed to go through a doorway to review them.
“So if you needed to see a patient several times a day you could do it quite easily in amongst a normal surgery.
“The nurses were great; they had an instant rapport with the patients because almost everyone knew each other.
“The Friends’ offer of building and funding a rebuild of the hospital would provide 12 new fullycompliant beds by modern standards.
“That would be a tremendous facility not only for us for GP-acute admissions, but also rehabilitation, allowing orthopaedics perhaps to start to tackle some of the waiting lists that have built up.”
Patients from across Garioch have received care at Insch War Memorial Hospital since it was built a century ago and Mr Tait hopes this will continue for many more years.
“Of course, this is all subject to the scrutiny of the NHS but we do want to find a solution together in the future.
“We hope to work closely with NHS Grampian and the health and social care partnership to achieve this.
“We’ve come up with a concept, we’re going to fund it, we only hope they can meet us halfway to make this a reality.”