Moray SNP News

MSP TO ATTEND KEITH HEALTH CENTRE TALKS

Richard Lochhead MSP will tomorrow (Friday 10 November) meet with the representatives from NHS Grampian, Health and Social Care Moray, and the Moray Council to discuss the campaign for a new Health Centre and Hospital for Keith.

Mr Lochhead has backed the campaign for NHS Grampian to build a replacement for the dated practice and Turner Memorial Hospital.  NHS Grampian has confirmed to the MSP that a replacement for Keith is their number one priority for Moray and that two potential sites have been identified.

Tomorrow, he will discuss next steps with the health board and will be pressing everyone involved to get to the stage where they are preparing a business case as soon as possible. 

Mr Lochhead will meet with Gerry Donald, Head of Property and Asset Development at NHS Grampian, Allan Robertson, Property Planning Manager at NHS Grampian, Pam Gowans the Chief Officer of Health and Social Care Moray, and Richard Anderson, Moray Council’s Head of Housing and Property.

Speaking ahead of the meeting Mr Lochhead said:

“Since I first met with health centre staff and the Keith Patient Participatory Group in August we have made some minor progress, with the confirmation that Keith is the top priority in Moray and that two possible sites have been identified by the health board.

“However, this still doesn’t take us to the point where NHS Grampian are at the stage of preparing a business case and clearly this is the important point we want to get to, and we want to get there as soon as possible.  Only once the business case has been prepared can we then start to think about securing funding.

“There is strong support in the community for a new health centre, as the 1000 signature strong petition handed over to NHS Grampian demonstrates.  I welcome the invitation to meet and I will certainly be taking the opportunity at this meeting to impress upon all the agencies involved to get the project to the stage where they have a business case in place as soon as possible.”