Insch Hospital supporters have welcomed new funding for a dementia support group at the community hospital mothballed five years ago.
The award — almost £10,000 from a community fund — was handed to Friends of Insch Hospital late last month.
The group has drawn up plans to hold the support group once a week in the hospital’s dayroom, in partnership with Insch Medical Practice, which is attached to the hospital.
Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership, which oversees the hospital, welcomed the award.
An AHSCP spokesperson said: “We are always keen to work with our communities and congratulate the Friends of Insch Hospital for securing funds to provide a local dementia support group and hope that our dementia services are able to work alongside them long into the future.”
Friends of Insch Hospital said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this money which will allow us to provide such a vital service to the local area.
“Families with loved ones with dementia are desperately in need of support and safe spaces. Insch Hospital has been virtually unused but fully maintained in operational condition for the past five years.”
Dementia group a ‘significant step forward’ for Insch
Dr Paul Davies, GP partner at Insch Medical Practice also welcomed the news, calling the dementia support group a “significant step forward in supporting our most vulnerable patients”.
He added: “We look forward to working alongside the Friends group to ensure its success.”
Insch War Memorial Hospital shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 so that staff could be deployed elsewhere.
And though former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged in 2021 it would not be shut for good — and set out plans for £10bn towards its refurbishment — almost five years on, the facility remains closed.
Local health chiefs say it no longer meets modern healthcare standards and that it is not safe to reopen.
They have previously said they want an alternative community use for the hospital site.
Praise for return of day room to community use
This week, Friends of Insch Hospital welcomed the prospect of the day room once again serving the community.
The facility was opened in 1993 with the help of funds raised by the Insch community and according to Friends “is fully equipped to provide [the dementia support] service”.
The group added: “We are so keen and excited to be bringing our community-funded day room back into use. It is an ideal location for our new service as the health centre is part of the same building.”
Friends has long campaigned for the local community to benefit more from the hospital, which the group says has continued to be heated, cleaned and maintained as an operational facility.
The hospital, which celebrated its centenary in 2022 and prior to Covid accommodated 12 inpatient beds, “remains in very good condition”, the group added.
In August 2022, Friends of Insch drew up their own plans for upgrading facilities.
Proposals included a new 12-bed unit, with 12 ensuite bathrooms, constructed next to the hospital’s day room.
The existing facility would be used as a wellbeing centre.
Conversation