Hospitals in the north and north-east are to be given a slice of £200million to create treatment centres for elderly patients.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will today announce that Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Raigmore Hospital in Inverness will be given a total of £60million to develop the facilities, which will be for elective procedures such as cataracts or hip replacements.
The move – which the SNP hope will give older people in the region a “new lease of life” – comes amid fears services could become “overwhelmed” by an ageing population.
It is also hoped the plans will ease the bed-blocking crisis, which has been a particular problem in the Highlands, and “take pressure off our emergency hospitals”.
The “elective treatment centres” – two of six that will be built across the country are due to be constructed by 2021, and will be modelled on the Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank.
Ms Sturgeon will use her keynote address at the SNP conference in Aberdeen to unveil the plans.
She is expected to say: “I can announce today that over the next parliament we will invest £200million to create a new network of elective treatment centres.
“We will extend the Golden Jubilee and develop new centres at St John’s in Livingston, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, at Ninewells in Dundee, at Raigmore in Inverness and here, in this city, at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.”
Ms Sturgeon will tell the crowd the move has been prompted by rapidly ageing populations.
They will hear: “By 2037, the number of people who are over 70 will increase by 50%. The numbers over 75 will increase by almost 80%.
“Something I hear time and again from my older constituents is how a hip or knee replacement or a cataract operation has given them a new lease of life.
“These operations make a real difference.
“But as more people live longer into old age, more and more of these operations will need to be done.
“If we don’t prepare now for 10 or 20 years ahead, our NHS will be overwhelmed by demand.”
The proposals have been broadly welcomed by opposition politicians, although they were quick to point out that staffing remained the “critical issue” for the health boards.
Shadow Scottish care and equality spokeswoman and north Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “Such funding is obviously welcome, especially for an ageing population, but the critical issue is staffing.
“You can throw money at things but recruiting clinicians has become a huge challenge.”
Highlands and Islands Tory MSP Mary Scanlon added: “These investments are very much welcomed.
“In terms of health care funding, Highland has been poorly neglected by the Scottish Government, leading to multimillion-pound overspends at Raigmore and a deteriorating service on the basis of the very low budget allocated to health services in this area.
“This funding is long overdue, so I hope these projects will come to fruition as soon as possible.”
North East Tory MSP Alex Johnstone said he was pleased at the government’s announcement, adding: “It’s part of a trend over the last year, the Scottish Government is acting to reverse a chronic underfunding of health care in the north and north east.
“I welcome the further investment the SNP government has chosen to deliver after reducing the proportion of the block grant of health funds sent to the region.
“It’s progress and I can only welcome the reversal of an unfortunate trend.”
Dr Jamie Weir, chairman of north-east patients’ body PACT, added: “This is an excellent idea, an aging population is a major problem for all of the NHS and anything that will relieve capacity will be a great help.
“The Golden Jubilee Hospital has had some problems with staffing, but anything which will boost the facilities at NHS Grampian and NHS Highlands can only be good news.”