Insch Hospital is unlikely to reopen anytime soon despite Nicola Sturgeon promising it would not be shut permanently, local health bosses have admitted.
Campaigners in the Aberdeenshire village have been fighting for the SNP to honour a pledge from the 2021 election to ensure the facility opens its doors again.
The War Memorial Hospital was closed at the start of the Covid pandemic so that staff could be deployed elsewhere.
A year later, former First Minister Ms Sturgeon set out plans for a £10 billion package to “refurbish and replace” the hospital.
But this cash has not yet been coughed up – and Aberdeenshire’s health and social care partnership chief confessed no progress is likely in the immediate future.
During a Holyrood committee, Chief Officer Pamela Milliken told MSPs the hospital’s current infrastructure is “not appropriate” for treating patients.
She admitted campaigners fighting for the facility to be upgraded would prefer to have local care available, but said that is not an option currently.
Ms Milliken said: “At the moment patients from that area travel to neighbouring community hospitals if they need a community hospital stay.
“I know every community would like to have their own local facilities, but in that particular environment it’s not possible to run inpatient services at the moment.”
But Allison Grant, vice-chair of Friends of Insch Hospital, warned local services are vital to the community.
She told us: “A community hospital bed 35 miles away from a patient’s home isn’t a bed in their community.
“Insch is well located to serve the substantial population of central Aberdeenshire, particularly many frail and elderly people.
“Our hospital was shut down three and a half years ago, but there has never been a formal consultation on its closure.”
North East Tory MSP Tess White, who quizzed Ms Milliken on the closure, said her comments were tantamount to an admission there are no plans to reopen the hospital.
Ms White later said: “The people of Insch and the surrounding area have been crying out for their hospital to reopen since it closed during the pandemic.
“But it now appears to be stuck in limbo between the Scottish Government and the partnership.
“Judging by Ms Miliken’s response today, it seems unlikely the hospital will reopen as it was before Covid.”
In April, Ms Sturgeon’s successor Humza Yousaf was told to stick to the promises made by his predecessor.
While still health chief, Mr Yousaf revealed work on the future of Insch Hospital would resume later in the year.
He said talks would restart once “immediate system pressures” on the NHS had been reduced.
Campaigners from Friends of Insch Hospital have drawn up their own plans for upgrading facilities.
Their proposals would include a new 12-bed unit, with 12 ensuite bathrooms, which would be constructed next to the hospital’s day room.
The existing facility would then be used as a wellbeing centre.
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