£28m upgrade works start at Raigmore Hospital
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WORK has started on the single biggest investment at Raigmore Hospital since it was built nearly 40 years ago.
Approval and funding to upgrade the Inverness hospital’s critical care service was given by the Scottish Government in March with an investment of £28m over the next three years.
The upgrade will bring all critical care services, which includes the acute medical assessment unit, the intensive care unit, surgical high dependency unit, cardiology and theatre suite, adjacent to each other over two floors.
The operating theatres at the hospital will be refurbished and an additional theatre will be added to bring the total number of theatres in the suite to 10. Seven of them will be equipped with specialist laminar air flow, ensuring the air within the theatre environment is at the cleanest possible standard.
The work will be carried out by Graham Construction.
Doreen Bell, clinical advisor for the tower block upgrade, said: "This week Grahams have started an invasive drilling survey to test how much noise and vibration will be evident when the works get underway. It’s a small part of this project but it’s great to see this initial part of the works begin and know what’s coming up in future months.
"Having critical care services over the two floors will not only allow best use of space and staff but it will also improve patient flow in the hospital and the privacy and dignity of our patients."
The original building at Raigmore Hospital, which services the population of the Highlands as well as Moray and the Western Isles for some specialities, was constructed in 1980.
A number of improvement works have already been carried out including refurbishment of some of the wards and the provision of a new, state-of-the-art endoscopy unit.
That work is continuing and the next stage will see Ward GC, which cares for oncology patients, move from the ground floor to the fifth floor into a newly refurbished ward.
