NHS Highland board give go-ahead to elective care centre
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PLANS for an elective care centre which will serve the north of Scotland will now be submitted to the Scottish Government after the NHS Highland board approved a full business case for the project.
The health authority expects the elective care centre to offer a best-in-class delivery of knee, hip and cataract surgery as well as the full range of ophthalmology outpatient services.
Scotland's health secretary Jeane Freeman said: “I’m pleased that the board has approved the business case for the north of Scotland elective centre and we look forward to receiving this. It will offer great benefit to the people of NHS Highland.
“The centre is part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to create a new network of elective and diagnostic treatment centres to ensure that we have high-quality provision of elective care services that meet the needs of an ageing population. This is supported by a capital investment of over £200 million, of which £35 million of funding has been allocated for the north of Scotland elective centre.”
Deborah Jones, director of strategic commissioning, planning and performance for NHS Highland, explained that the elective care centre will help in meeting the predicted rising demand for a range of orthopaedic and ophthalmology procedures, providing extra capacity for the north of Scotland to ensure NHS waiting times are reduced and offering improved services and facilities.
She said: “The clinical engagement we have already had on this project with clinicians taking ownership to redesign care and the pathways that deliver care has been excellent. We are all fully committed to creating an ethos of improvement, quality and safety which could, potentially, have an impact on how services and health are delivered across the rest of Scotland.”
The 24-bed centre will incorporate four operating theatres containing five tables, inpatient accommodation to support these theatres, all ophthalmology services as well as the support accommodation required to deliver this.
It will be capable of handling:
- Capacity to accommodate anticipated growth over at least 15 years.
- Enhanced patient experience providing a seamless service from referral, and optimising patient flow from admission to discharge back to primary care.
- Bringing patient care closer to home.
The elective care centre will be part of a larger custom-built facility at Inverness Campus, promoting engagement between the health service, the academic sector and commercial partners.
Along with the elective care centre, the facility will contain a University of the Highlands and Islands’ life sciences innovation centre and a new life science business incubator owned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, funded by the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal.
Miss Jones added: “This is an exciting step in the process of our ambition, along with our partners Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the University of the Highlands and Islands, to have a centre of excellence that will benefit everyone in the north of Scotland and beyond.
“This is not just about the building. This is a real opportunity for us to establish research and development aimed at maximising recruitment and retention as well as bringing commercial and statutory organisations to work together to redesign delivery.”
An NHS Highland spokesman said: "The project will create sustainable economic benefits to the north of Scotland, supported by the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal funding secured by University of the Highlands and Islands.
"A key focus is to expand the range and scope of the commercial life sciences sector in the Highlands and Islands, providing the infrastructure and personnel to draw in new investment and create jobs.
"Development areas will be linked to the regional economy, demography and geography including disease management and prevention, rural health, digital health, integrated health and social care and technology assisted living."
