Health / Maternity department will have to move during ‘intrusive’ hospital repairs
NHS Shetland is still confident the isles will get a new hospital, despite the Scottish Government having to fund £10 million in urgent repairs to the Gilbert Bain.
It is a case of “when and not if” Shetland gets a replacement for the aging hospital, health board chairman Gary Robinson says.
NHS Shetland revealed today (Tuesday) immediate structural works are required at the crumbling facility, with some concrete walls needing to be replaced and others reclad.
The NHS has repeatedly assured the public that the hospital remains structurally safe, however, and just needs to be made wind and water tight.
In a press briefing called after the news was announced, NHS Shetland announced:
• The maternity department is one of three that will need to move while work takes place
• Temporary “modular units” will be used to house some NHS services outside the building
• Work could cost up to £11 million
• Construction “will be intrusive” and noisy, but patient care should not be affected
Water flooding into the hospital in February 2024 sparked an NHS investigation and structural surveys, which have led to the discovery of flaws in the construction of one of the hospital buildings.
Estates and facilities manager David Wagstaff said that while water ingress had been “not something new”, there had been significant levels coming in to “places we’d never seen before”.
It was found that “faulty mortar” was used in the original construction of the four storey block building put up in the 1980s.
Five elevations will need to be taken down and rebuilt, while another two will have to be reclad.
Wagstaff admitted that the work “will be intrusive”, with parts of the building having to be opened up to the elements.
However he stressed that NHS Shetland and structural engineers are “confident that the underlying structure of the building is absolutely fine”.
Work will start in February 2026, with the health board now focusing on how to move departments out and into temporary locations without affecting patient care.
Funding for the entire project will come from the Scottish Government, with costs potentially reaching between “£10.5 to £11 million”, Wagstaff added.
NHS board chairman Robinson said they would “much rather be spending that on a new hospital” – but added they were “just not in that place”, with the Scottish Government pausing plans for a replacement in 2023.
He said he did not think the urgent repair work would negatively affect any plans for a new hospital.
“The hospital isn’t up to 21st century standards and after this work it still won’t be up to 21st century standards,” Robinson added.
And Wagstaff stressed that, even if they were still looking at a new hospital, that would be “years away”.
“It could be seven or eight years before we had a new hospital,” he said.
“We still need to do this work and maintain all the services we currently do.”
Nursing and acute services director Kathleen Carolan said that there were no plans for Shetland patients to have to go the mainland for care while the work was underway.
“We want to deliver the same level of service locally,” she said.
“There will be some services that need to be decanted.”
However these would either be moved into other spaces at the hospital, or into “bespoke modular units” – similar to the MRI scanner unit, she explained.
Renal, maternity and ward three are the departments which will have to move, Carolan said.
“We’re expecting to replicate what we currently offer just in other parts of the hospital or in external units,” she said.
Carolan admitted, however, that there would be disruption, adding: “There will be noise, there will be builders on site.”
Nobody would be decanted from the hospital “until we’re ready to do the actual structural work” early next year though, Wagstaff said.
He was asked by Shetland News if he was confident they would find a contractor to carry out the work at short notice – particularly after other major construction projects in Shetland have struggled.
“We’ve already started speaking to tier one contractors, the large specialist contractors,” he said.
“That work is well underway.
“We have contractors interested in taking on this work and committed to doing it in the timeframe.”
NHS Shetland’s board approved the work at a meeting this morning (Tuesday).
The health board said it would help ensure the hospital remains safe and fit for purpose for at least 10 to 15 years.
It added the work was “essential to ensure the building remains resilient, weather-tight, and functional for years to come.”
A dedicated project team including NHS Shetland staff, a design team and contractors has been working together to plan the next stages of the work.
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