Letters / A worthy project for the isles
I have been working at Gilbert Bain Hospital for 13 years as a relief porter. So, this is a topic I feel quite qualified to talk about.
Designed nearly over 60 years ago, it opened in 1961, the hospital was good in its day but is now showing its age. There are issues with the building, and it is now beyond a fix here and a fix there, maintenance costs are creeping up every year.
Replacement is, I think, the only option.
Medical equipment, over time, gets taller, broader, longer, so space is an issue throughout the hospital when moving a patient. Even in my short time at the hospital, there is so much more equipment that has wheels on it, so corridors can make for a bit of a slalom course when a bed or trolley is being moved.
A simple thing that causes maximum aggravation is doors that do not open without a stop to push/pull door handles, trying to hold the doors and moving the bed to prevent them hitting the bed should be designed out of any new hospital.
Doors that open either way, and stay open for a limited time, surely, is not a difficult thing to ask. One of the lifts is quite tight once a bed is in there, it is a struggle to get staff in with the patient.
If there is the go ahead for a new hospital, I hope that portering, cleaning, kitchen, nursing and other medical staff can contribute to the design.
There is a hospital in Newcastle that involved all staff in the design, and it is said to work really well, not all the ideas have to come from staff with fancy titles, workers at the coalface can contribute with small, practical issues. From what I have said previously, more space is required.
Personally, I would also argue for as much as possible, or everything, being on the one level.
So, funding is an issue. I would argue that whoever becomes Shetland’s next MSP, could be me, should make the case that Shetland puts a lot of cash down to Edinburgh.
Arguable about how much comes back up. The Scottish Government should pick up the tab now, get the new hospital designed, get shovels in the ground.
Apart from anything else, and I have heard no one dispute this, every year the Scottish Government underspends its annual budget. A new hospital is a worthy project for the isles.
Brian Nugent
Alliance to Liberate Scotland and sovereignty candidate for Shetland
