Vital Work Yet to Begin

REPAIR work which is supposed to be underway at Leanchoil Hospital hasn’t yet started.

Moray Council member for Forres Irene Ogilvie stands outside Leanchoil with copies of her petition to keep the facility open, which now boasts more than 2,000 signatures.

NHS Grampian had announced repairs to the building on St. Leonard’s Road – designed to bring it up to current health board standards – would begin last week.

But as the ‘Gazette’ went to press the work was not underway, though an assurance was given that it would begin soon.

“The costs have now been received,” said a health board spokesman on Monday. “The project manager will meet the contractors tomorrow (July 19) on site. A decision will be made at that meeting about when work can begin, but the expectation is it will be later this week.”

The repair work is needed after the hospital was closed following an electrical fault on January 2, which saw patients evacuated from the building. At the time it had 15 beds and housed several day-patient clinics.

Whilst the clinics reopened later in the month, the overnight wing remains closed to patients. Bringing the building up to modern NHS standards will see the number of beds reduced to nine.

A reopening date of September was given by health board chief executive Andrew Fowlie at a public meeting in Forres in May.

However, the long period of time the hospital has been closed to overnight patients has fuelled fears it could be permanently closed.

The total repair bill to bring it entirely up to modern standards is estimated to be more than £3 million and it has the joint-fourth highest estimated repair bill across all NHS Grampian facilities for work deemed high risk.

Moray Council member for Forres, Irene Ogilvie, who since last year has run a petition to keep the hospital open, which now has more than 2,000 signatures, welcomed the news that work should begin soon.

“Obviously the quicker they get started the better,” she said. “It’s been going on for long enough and they need to get the work done and open for overnight patients.”

On Forres High Street several people told the ‘Gazette’ their concerns about Leanchoil’s future.

Alexander Stewart of North Road said the hospital was needed in Forres. “You have got to go miles to get to another hospital,” he said.

“We need the hospital in the town,” said Joyce MacDonald, who runs Images on Forres High Street. “I hope it’s not just a stalling tactic. The problem is they (NHS Grampian) have got no money.”

Edna Lee of Bachen Court said: “I think it’s disgusting to even think about closing the hospital.”

Her friend William Macleod pointed out that the hospital had been paid for by Forres’ people in the 19th century and its grounds were given to the town.

• Councillor Ogilvie’s petition to save Leanchoil received 200 new signatures at this year’s Forres Highland Games which she said was “much on par with last year”.

She also said many people signing were visitors to Forres who “would still like to have that kind of facility here if need be”.

There are now around 2,100 signatures on the petition. It is still available to sign in the ‘Gazette’ office and in other outlets along the high street.