New £20m Clackmannanshire health centre opens

Clackmannanshire’s new £20m community hospital has been officially opened by local MSP Keith Brown. NHS Forth Valley said the facility would provide 45 in-patient beds for the physically frail and day services for mental health patients.

The area’s social services and a new Alloa Health Centre will also be based at the Glen Alva Mill site.

The project is being delivered under a 30-year public-private partnership deal.

NHS Forth Valley put delays to the project – which had been due for completion in 2008 – down to bad weather.

‘First patients’

The new centre will provide health care to a population of more than 49,000 people.

NHS Forth Valley chairman, Ian Mullen, said: “This complex will provide the very best clinical care, and is the culmination of excellent joint working between ourselves and Clackmannanshire Council.

“This is a fantastic new development for the people of Clackmannanshire, and forms an essential part of the NHS Forth Valley integrated healthcare strategy to bring care closer to people’s homes.

“This important project will complement the new Forth Valley Acute Hospital at Larbert which is due to take its first patients next summer”

The development was designed by Glasgow-based HLM Architects and constructed by the Robertson Group.