Ambitious proposals which could lead to the creation of a community health and emergency services hub in Brechin have emerged.
The prospect of community health, social care and blue light provision from the same site is to be the subject of a six-figure initial study after Angus landed a grant windfall slice of a £30 million Scottish Government fund set up to pursue the strategic development of such centres across the country.
Councillors have given a cautious early welcome to the proposal, calling for full community consultation over the idea after it gathered pace when Angus moved in to grasp an opportunity which presented itself when a front-running project elsewhere hit difficulties.
Angus chief executive Richard Stiff told strategic policy councillors the award of £191,000 will now allow for a full accommodation needs assessment to be completed, examining the feasibility of alternative property options.
The recent closure of St Drostan’s the only local authority-run residential home in Brechin thrust social care accommodation into the spotlight and councillors have been told that a number of services delivered by the council and other organisations are operating from buildings which are past their sell-by date.
Mr Stiff said: “Accommodation is one of the key cross-themed issues of the Angus Community Planning Partnership, and is included in its forward work programme.
“An accommodation group meets roughly quarterly, with good representation from across partner agencies.
“An action plan is reviewed at each meeting, and in the last year, the scale of property issues in Brechin has resulted in efforts to explore a joint strategic approach.
“Following an initial review of partnership properties, it has become clear that several services are operating from buildings that are not ideally fit for purpose.
“Discussions have commenced on potential synergies in amalgamating community health, social care and emergency services.”
The chief executive continued: “The Scottish Government committed £30m of start-up capital enabling funding to facilitate the launch of the hub procurement programme across Scotland.
“The capital enabling funding is designed to support front runner projects with either a capital injection or funding to support project development by way of feasibility funding, land acquisition or early design work.
“NHS is required to use the hub procurement programme for any significant capital developments, whether working alone or in partnership.”