MSP seeks assurances on St Brendan’s Hospital

In 2011, NHS Western Isles accepted that the current facilities were not fully compliant with the standards that are required for modern health and social care.

Since then, progress on replacing the facility has been slow and suffered a number of setbacks.

An outline business case for a new hospital in Barra was approved in April 2018, with progression to a Full Business Case expected to take over a year.

However, there have also been discussions about the prospect of integrating the current hospital, health and social care development with that of replacing Castlebay community school and other Comhairle services in Barra.

Alasdair Allan MSP commented: “I am grateful for the Cabinet Secretary’s absolute assurances that a replacement for St Brendan’s will be provided within the lifetime of this Parliament, and that Scottish Government officials will intervene to assist NHS Western Isles if there are any further unexpected delays in the submission of a full business case.

“There is an urgent need for modern health and social care facilities on the island and people in Barra have waited far too long to see this project realised. I very much hope we will soon get to see real and tangible progress in this regard.”