NHS chiefs come under fire over delays to £10.5m north coast health hub at Tongue
Progress on a planned £10.5 million new health and social care hub for the north coast has stalled, sparking fears that the facility could be in jeopardy.
NHS chiefs are accused of dragging their feet on the long-awaited project, which involves private investment from Anders Holch Povlsen’s conservation and eco-tourism company, Wildland Limited.
There is concern that the delay could lead to Wildland Limited pulling out of the scheme, although the company’s chief executive has said they are in it for the long haul.
Tongue, Melness and Skerray Community Council has written to NHS Highland board chairperson Sarah Compton-Bishop expressing deep concern.
Community council vice-chairman Marion Milligan said: “We are concerned that the lack of NHS Highland engagement at a senior level could result in the loss of this private investment, resulting in a huge service loss for the community.”
Planning permission was granted in September 2023 for the development, which will be built on open land to the north-east of St Andrew’s Church at Tongue.
Highland Council is building the hub in a public-private partnership with NHS Highland and Wildland Ltd.
It will replace two small NHS Highland residential care homes, Sinclair Court in Melvich and Caladh Sona in Talmine, which closed its doors in May 2023.
And it will also include a “state-of-the-art “15-bed residential care facility, a GP surgery, and an “integrated care team administrative base”.
NHS Highland says it will be the “occupier, operator, and responsible party” for the management and delivery of all services provided from the new hub.
But alarm bells are ringing following a meeting of the North (Sutherland) Coast Redesign Communication & Engagement Stakeholder Group on September 19.
Ms Milligan said: “At this meeting it was reported that there would be a further six-month delay in the building of the new care home. This follows what we feel have been avoidable repeated delays in a long and complex process.”
She continued: “We have lost essential car services in our community with the closure of Caladh Sona, and the Care at Home service is not currently meeting the required needs of the area.
“The new building will not just be a care home but will be a hub for an innovative model of integrated health and social care across the north coast re-design area.
“The care services which will be provided from the new building would seem to fit in with local and national government plans, but the project does not appear to be getting support from senior NHS Highland managers.
“The potential threat to this unique and valuable partnership has prompted the community council to write on behalf of our community to the chairperson of NHS Highland.”
Tongue community councillor Michael Simpson said: “It is dispiriting for the communities. Everybody thought it was moving forward and that the first sod would be cut next spring, but now it has been delayed, and there is a feeling that the longer they prevaricate, the more the project is in jeopardy. I think the community has been let down by senior NHS managers.”
Tim Kirkwood, chief executive of Wildland Limited, said: “We are fully behind this project and really want to see this happen.
“We are ready and willing and able and have been right from the start, and we are doing all we can to bring this forward as soon as possible and this remains the case.”
A spokesperson for NHS Highland said: “The programme board met at the end of October. The programme board received the (RIBA) Stage 3 submission from the Design Team.
With the help of the stakeholders, project team and technical reviewers. we’ve carried out our assessment of the submission, and it is the recommendation of the programme board that we move to Stage 4 – Technical design.
This recommendation will be taken forward within NHS Highland for agreement to proceed accordingly.”
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