Shadow Health Secretary visits new hospital
Shadow health secretary Miles Briggs joined Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston on a visit to the new Balfour Hospital site in Kirkwall.
The hospital is set to open in summer 2019 and is designed to secure the future of healthcare services in Orkney for future decades.
The ÂŁ64million project is currently ahead of schedule and the Scottish Conservative MSPs said they were pleased to see the progress during their visit last Friday.
Both MSPs highlighted the importance of health services remaining as local as possible.
Jamie Halcro Johnston MSP said: “The Balfour is a vital project for Orkney, a major boost to local health services and is hugely welcome.
“NHS Orkney and Robertson Group seem to working extremely well together, with plans in place to ensure a smooth transition to the new facilities next year.
“It is testament to the efforts of the project team that this major public project is currently ahead of schedule.
“However, it is important that the NHS in Orkney is backed over the long-term.
“All too often, we have seen vital services suffer from a lack of support and it is islanders who are then hit when services are centralised to other parts of Scotland.
“Looking to the future, as far as possible, key medical services must remain in the islands – or brought to the islands – so that local patients are not forced to endure lengthy trips.
“This fantastic new facility can be the catalyst to achieve that”.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport Miles Briggs MSP said:“It was great to visit the new Balfour Hospital and to see how work is progressing. This is an important facility for Orkney as the NHS celebrates its 70th anniversary, but must be matched by solid year-on-year investment into frontline NHS services on the islands.”