First Minister opens Health & Care Hub and visits Community Campus
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gave her seal of approval for two hub North Scotland projects in Inverurie today.
She officially opened the £14.7 million Inverurie Health and Care Hub before inspecting construction progress on the £55 million Inverurie Community Campus.
The Inverurie Health and Care Hub was delivered by hub North Scotland on behalf of NHS Grampian with Morrison Construction as the main contractor. It offers integrated health and social care services in one location.
Its state of the art facilities include a midwife-led community maternity unit, an x-ray department, a dental surgery, a minor injuries unit, 28 consulting rooms and a local GP practice with 25,000 registered patients.
During the tour, the First Minister met Yolanda and Jonny Smith from Newmachar, whose son Cruz, was the first baby to be born in the maternity unit earlier this year.
After unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening of the building, the First Minister visited the site of the new Inverurie Community Campus, which will replace the existing Inverurie Academy, community centre and swimming pool, when it is completed in spring next year.
The campus is being delivered by hub North Scotland on behalf of Aberdeenshire Council with Robertson Construction as the main contractor. It will cater for up to 1,600-pupils and will be home to both Inverurie Academy and St Andrew’s School.
It will also have extensive community and leisure facilities including a six-lane swimming pool, a multi-use games area and two all-weather sports pitches.
During her visit, the First Minister met third year pupil Annalie Davison, from the Rights Respecting School Group, and fifth year pupil Mohamad Dawas, a Syrian “New Scot” originally from Aleppo, and who joined Inverurie Academy from a refugee camp in Lebanon. She also met 12-year-old Jack McCranor and 16-year-old Morgan Shewan from the St Andrews School.
Following the visits, Ms Sturgeon said: “This new health facility in Inverurie is an excellent example of integrated health and social care, providing people with services located in a single setting, at the heart of the community.
“It is exactly in line with our vision of improving primary care by allowing GPs to focus their skills where they add most value and allowing patients to be seen at the right time by the right person.
“The new £55 million Inverurie Community Campus will be a massive boost for the town giving young people state of the art world class facilities in which to learn.
“These facilities are two of many new infrastructure projects planned as part of our significant investment in the north east.”
Michael Padzinski, chief executive of hub North Scotland said: “It was a delight to have the First Minister visit two of our key projects, which are offering fantastic facilities to Inverurie and clearly demonstrate how hub North Scotland can deliver badly needed infrastructure projects to local communities.”
Photograph shows First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with hub North Scotland Board director Paul McGirk, hub North Scotland chief executive Michael Padzinski and hub North Scotland Board director Kirsty O’Brien at the Inverurie Community Campus.