Confusion over a letter sent to the Scottish Government from NHS Highland chairperson Sarah Compton-Bishop has turned to frustration for backers of the new Belford build.
At a meeting on March 7, members of the Lochaber Health and Social Care Redesign Stakeholders’ Group met with the chairperson and outgoing/incoming NHSH CEO’s.
Stakeholders at that meeting emphasised the "folly" of delaying the design and preparation work of the new hospital following the Scottish Government’s decision to pause spending on capital projects back in January of this year.
Although the chairpersons and CEOs underlined their commitment to the Health and Social Care Redesign overall, they would not support the argument of the stakeholders in respect of continuing work on the newbuild and had accepted the instruction to pause.
Stakeholders subsequently urged the board to reconsider this.
At a further meeting on April 25 it was reported by the stakeholders that Ms Compton-Bishop had written to Scottish Government to fully support their ask to get the project to RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) stage 3.
A much longed for change in approach does not seem to be in the pipeline however.
On asking for clarifying on the situation last week a NHSH spokesperson told the Lochaber Times: "The chairperson wrote to the Scottish Government to express the concerns of the Lochaber community regarding the pause in construction projects and in particular the replacement for the Belford Hospital.
"We understand the frustration that our communities and colleagues will feel as they have worked very hard on the project for a long time.
"We are determined that their efforts will not go to waste and we are working to get our plans for the new hospital in Lochaber to a stage where we can be ready when the funding becomes available.
"We are working on the final areas of the Outline Business Case, which is an essential part of Scottish Government processes for new capital projects.
"Balfour Beatty has supported us to deliver Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stage 2, which means producing an initial Concept Design. All of this work is crucial and we offer our thanks to everyone involved for their continued support."
Community stakeholder John Hutchison was not impressed with the response in the slightest.
"When we met the chairperson and CEO we asked them to take up the matter on our behalf and we invited the Board to support and back the community it is intended to serve," he told us.
"Instead, the chair hasn’t done that but has simply reported the community’s concern to the Scottish Government.
"People are very capable of doing this themselves and many Lochaber folk have been writing to the Cabinet Secretary direct.
"Too often we use NHS as a word but the clue is in ‘Service’; in this respect we asked the NHS Highland Board to stand up for the people they serve but they have failed to do so.
"There is no point in referring to RIBA Stage 2 since that was reached last year. The design team is now very close to RIBA Stage 3 and that’s what we need the funding for, to move the project on."
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