RD Health has been selected as the principal supply chain partner to take forward the development of the replacement Migdale Hospital at Bonar Bridge in Central Sutherland for NHS Highland.
RD Health is a consortium formed exclusively to work in partnership with the NHS in Scotland as part of Frameworks Scotland, a new flexible partnering approach to the procurement of publicly funded construction work. RD Health, through its two principal members, Robertson Construction Group and Dawn Construction Group, has extensive links with the NHS in Scotland and has considerable expertise in the design, construction and maintenance of both acute and primary care NHS developments throughout the Scottish healthcare estate.
Robertson Construction Group has been selected to work with the existing design team to develop the full business case.
The new healthcare facility will be built in the centre of the village, close to the Bradbury Centre, which is a day centre for older people, and the GP surgery at Cherry Grove.
It is hoped that work will start on site at the end of this year and that the hospital will be fully operational in 2011.
The new building will provide 22 beds in two units - one for older people with mental health needs and the other providing GP-led beds, offering a range of in-patient services, including palliative care, general medicine and less intensive rehabilitation services.
All the bedrooms will be single occupancy, with en-suite toilets and showers, and the internal layout has been designed so that two of them can be used by either unit to provide flexibility.
One room in each unit will be larger than the others to provide optimum accommodation for palliative care and other patients who require additional space over and above that provided in the standard size rooms.
Robertson has significant experience in delivering healthcare projects throughout Scotland and north-east England including development of the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, Gartnavel Royal Hospital in Glasgow, St George's Park Hospital, Morpeth and the Aberdeen Dental Centre. Robertson Construction Group has also recently been announced as the principal supply chain member to develop the new £100million Emergency Care Centre at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and £100million North Ayshire Hospital in Irvine under the Frameworks Scotland scheme.
Bill Robertson, executive chairman, Robertson, said: "We are delighted to be part of Frameworks Scotland and this project with NHS Highland signifies RD Health's third major award through the initiative.
"We very much look forward to working closely with our project partners and our client NHS Highland to develop this centre which will modernise the provision of healthcare services for the local area."
NHS Highland Locality General Manager, Georgia Haire, said: "We are delighted to have reached the stage where we have appointed a contractor for this important project and we look forward to working with them on the full business case."