Shetland needs a new hospital.

In September I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Health asking “when Shetland will have a new-build hospital fit for the 21st century”. 

The Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick, opened in 1961, has endured numerous extensions and re-configurations. In the last half century the hospital has outgrown its space and 1950s design.

It’s been said that “the constrained site provides little opportunity for expansion and little or no variation to the layout possible in an attempt to come close to achieving the modern hospital requirements of today”.

We have to meet the changing patterns of delivery of healthcare with advances in technology, the changing needs of patients, and future-proof island requirements.

You can read the Scottish Government’s response here.

Reports from mid-December 2021 state that a new £125m hospital could be built in Shetland within five years.

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