Highland Council has approved plans for a facility that will contain an NHS elective care centre, a University of the Highlands & Islands life sciences innovation centre and a new life science business incubator owned by Highlands & Islands Enterprise. 

Director of strategic commissioning, planning & performance for NHS Highland, Deborah Jones, explained the elective care wing of the building will provide for increasing demand for a range of orthopaedic and ophthalmology procedures.

The additional capacity is intended to accommodate anticipated growth over at least 15 years.

Deborah Jones said: “This is an exciting step in the process of our ambition, along with our partners Highlands & Islands Enterprise and the University of the Highlands & Islands, to have a centre of excellence that will benefit everyone in the North of Scotland and beyond.

“The clinical engagement we have already had on this project with clinicians taking ownership to redesign care and the pathways that deliver care has been excellent. We are all fully committed to creating an ethos of improvement, quality and safety.

“However this is not just about the building. This is a real opportunity for us to establish research and development aimed at maximising recruitment and retention as well as bringing commercial and statutory organisations to work together to redesign delivery.”

A key focus of the custom-built facility will be to expand the range and scope of the commercial life sciences sector in Inverness and the surrounding area, providing infrastructure and personnel to encourage new investments.

Main areas for development include disease management and prevention, rural health, digital health, integrated health and social care, and technology assisted living.

The project is supported by funding from the Inverness and Highland city-region deal, where the UK Government is providing £9m for the centre as part of its £53m investment.

Cabinet Secretary for Health & Sport, Jeane Freeman, commented: 

“This development will build on the positive experiences and outcomes for healthcare, research, enterprise and employment from the Centre for Health Science on the Raigmore Hospital site. It will offer great benefit to the people of NHS Highland.

“The Scottish Government is supporting the Highlands region with £135m investment in the Inverness and Highland city region deal. We have committed £1.275bn to city deals across Scotland over the next 10 to 20 years.”