The multimillion-pound revamp of the north-east’s largest health facility has taken another step forward.
NHS Grampian has submitted proposals for a new Foresterhill Health Centre to Aberdeen City Council.
The plans will pave the way for the wider £150million redevelopment of the site in the next five years.
Stan Mathieson, project director with the health board, said: “The new Foresterhill Health Centre will include provision for two general medical practices and a retail pharmacy, as well as accommodating a number of integrated health and social care teams.
“Those include podiatry, speech and language, dietetics, community nursing, community midwifery and health visiting.”
The scheme would represent the latest in a series of major investments at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary over the past two years, including a new £110million emergency care centre and a £13.6million radiotherapy department.
Foresterhill will also be the site for the new Baird Family Hospital and the ANCHOR Centre, both of which are due to be finished in 2020.
The health board is also expected to lodge plans for a new multi-storey car park for visitors, following a £10million donation from oil and gas industry doyen Sir Ian Wood and his wife Lady Helen from the philanthropic Wood Foundation.
Further planning is being done on a new elective care centre, residential accommodation for key staff, a patient hotel, and a life sciences centre in partnership with Aberdeen University.
Extensive landscaping on the Foresterhill Campus is also planned in addition to the new therapeutic roof garden at ARI.
Graeme Smith, the health board’s director of modernisation, added: “Combined, these projects will represent a huge step forward in the standard of facilities that will be available for patients.
“It is not just about hospitals, however, and in addition to Foresterhill Health Centre other new primary care and community facilities are being taken forward.”