NHS Highland has appointed Morrison Construction to lead the refurbishment work at Grantown Health Centre.
Planning permission has been granted and refurbishment work is scheduled to begin next month.
The current health centre is currently not big enough to accommodate the services, including minor injury, physiotherapy and locally based outpatient clinics, and requires refurbishment to improve the infrastructure and access.
Once completed, the health centre will have an extension to facilitate four additional consulting rooms in addition to a minor injuries unit, refurbishment of exiting rooms and improved access and waiting area arrangements. The total cost of this refurbishment is £2.6million.
Kathy Cockman, Grantown Medical Practice Executive Manager, said: “We are pleased to be moving forward with the proposed plans to refurbish Grantown Health Centre as part of the redesign of health and social care services in Badenoch and Strathspey. This work is not only about increasing the footprint of the building, but also modernising the internal fabric of the health centre.”
The work will be done in three stages, the first of which will see the Health Centre decant into the Ian Charles Hospital building. This process will begin in early July and will then facilitate construction work on the existing Health Centre building, including new windows and a new pitched roof which will create additional rooms on the first floor for training and a triage centre.
The energy system will also be modernised in line with ‘net zero’ legislation that will increase energy efficiency and reduce costs.
Kathy continued: “The addition of the extension will require the demolition of the central section of the existing building, which was added in the 1960’s and connects the original Ian Charles Hospital to the health centre.
“There are a number of advantages to demolishing the central section in addition to accommodating the proposed extension. We will be able to create a circular road loop around the health centre and allow for future expansion.
“During this period of construction, there will be some changes to the facility. What was the entrance to the health centre will become the entrance and exit. The current exit will be closed to allow site facilities and storage for Morrison Construction. We will also have reduced parking on-site as we will have construction activity ongoing.
“We would encourage patients to think about lift-sharing and walking to appointments if possible during this time to try and help ease the pressure on traffic flow during this time.
“We are on track to finish the works as per our programme. Once this work is completed, we will then move back in to the refurbished Health Centre. Service delivery will not be impacted during this work.”
Read more about Badenoch and Strathspey health and social care redesign.