Insch War Memorial Hospital’s future discussed at meeting
Insch War Memorial Hospital could be shut for good by the end of the year – but plans are already taking shape to see if the building can still be used in the community.
The 11-bed hospital was mothballed during the pandemic so staff could help out elsewhere – but it has remained closed to inpatients since, despite a long-running campaign to reopen it.
NHS Grampian revealed that a large investment would be needed to reopen the hospital, but the health board does not believe it will get the cash.
Patients from Insch and surrounding areas are now admitted to Inverurie Hospital, Jubilee Hospital in Huntly, or Aberdeen Royal Infirmary instead.
But the building has not been lying empty as it is still used to this day.
Health visiting teams make use of the hospital for child health assessments and baby massage clinics. It is also used for administration staff, home carers, and pop-up vaccination clinics.
Clinical staff also use the facility as a base when on local visits.
Back in May 2021, a review of health services for residents in Insch and the surrounding area was carried out.
This resulted in a number of potential options for both health and social care services being drawn up and presented to the integration joint board (IJB) the following year.
Board members agreed to either provide beds in a new build facility or extend the existing hospital that would be used as a wellbeing hub.
But these plans never progressed as NHS Grampian did not have the money needed to see them come to fruition.
However, the Friends of Insch Hospital and Community have met with health board bosses to express their interest in taking over the building.
But there is a hurdle in the way preventing this from happening – the facility will have to be declared surplus first.
The future of Insch Hospital was discussed at a meeting of the integration joint board.
A project group will now be formed to oversee the potential community asset transfer process.
This is expected to include representatives from Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership, the Friends group, Bennachie Community Council, Insch Medical Practice and NHS Grampian.
Councillor Moray Grant welcomed the latest update.
He said: “It’s really gratifying to see that after five years of the hospital being in limbo, progress seems at last to be on the cards.
“If a community asset transfer goes ahead, I wish the local community all the very best with that.”
Partnership chief officer Leigh Jolly said officers would work closely with the community and listen to feedback they receive along the way.
“This has taken us a long time and that’s not been helpful for anybody, particularly those in Insch that are really passionate about the hospital,” she noted.
“There are things we could have done better and we apologise that that’s caused distress and frustration to the community and a loss of trust.”
“We aren’t just blindly stumbling forward,” she added.
Members of the board are expected to be asked to declare the hospital surplus in December so the community can move ahead with their transfer request.
