Successful Bidder Announced for New Hospital and Healthcare Facility

NHS Orkney Chief Executive Cathie Cowan today announced Robertson Capital Projects as the successful bidder for the islands’ new £60million plus hospital and healthcare facility, at a meeting this afternoon of the NHS Orkney Board, at the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall.

“Today is hugely significant and, as Orcadians would say, we are a ‘peedie’ step closer in delivering a long awaited new hospital and healthcare facility for Orkney. This long awaited development will match our aspirations to deliver the highest quality care and services from fit for purpose facilities. The new building will also support the relocation of Skerryvore and Heilendi GP practices and King Street dental services. This investment, the biggest yet for NHS Orkney, will enable us to start providing services (which currently we rely on other Boards to provide) here and so support more care and services closer to home. Travelling outwith Orkney for routine care will become a thing of the past for many.”

Sharing the plans, Cathie Cowan said she was delighted to announce Robertson Capital Projects as the partner selected to deliver this prestigious project from design to construction and maintenance. She also paid tribute to her staff, and in particular the project team, for helping to achieve this landmark stage in the project. The purpose-built facility will contribute to high quality care, while improving the experience for patients, staff and visitors.

Neil McCormick, Managing Director for Robertson Capital Projects said: "We are delighted that Robertson has been selected to work with NHS Orkney under a 25 year partnership arrangement to deliver this significant investment. This is the start of a long term relationship. Over the coming months we will work together with all stakeholders to finalise the proposals for the design, construction, funding and maintenance of the project with a proposed start on site later this year."

Kerry Alexander, NPD (non-profit distributing) programme director of the Scottish Futures Trust, said: “This is a landmark moment for the delivery of this new state-of-the-art hospital. With construction soon to start this will support many hundreds of jobs and be a boost to the local economy.”

NHS Orkney Medical Director Marthinus Roos said, “I am delighted to confirm that the new facility will support a range of first class primary care, emergency and elective diagnostic, outpatient, day case and inpatient services. This will increase opportunities to use new technologies enabling remote access to support local delivery of services.”

In addition, all clinical and educational areas will have videoconferencing facilities to support more patients benefitting from services being delivered in Orkney and to ensure that NHS Orkney staff can link into training opportunities and health specialists nationally.

He added, “The new facility has been long anticipated by staff from across our organisation and I am delighted to have played a role along with project team members to move us to this stage of the project.”

Artist’s impressions of the proposed building and surrounding area and a ‘flythrough’ (an animation showing an impression how the hospital will look inside) can be viewed on the New Hospital and Healthcare Facility Information section of the NHS Orkney website (www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk).