Six NHS hip and knee replacement centres get green light in £24bn plan

Six new NHS elective treatment centres to carry out hip, knee and cataract replacements are among the projects given the green light in the Scottish Government’s infrastructure plan for the next five years.

Plans for the centres in Clydebank, Inverness, Livingston, Aberdeen, Tayside and Kirkcaldy were first unveiled five years ago and will now progress as part of the £24 billion programme for 2021-25, unveiled by Infrastructure Secretary Michael Matheson yesterday.

He claims that more than 40,000 jobs will be protected by the programme.

The draft plans will also see a £20 million upgrade of Edinburgh’s Cancer Centre, as well as a new £10m national secure adolescent inpatient service in Irvine and the £18m replacement of the St Brendan’s facility in Barra.

The plans also commit £470m to the long-awaited replacement of Barlinnie and Inverness prisons with new facilities for Glasgow and the Highlands.

Mr Matheson said: “In 2018 our National Infrastructure Mission committed to boost sustainable economic growth by increasing annual investment in infrastructure by £1.5bn by the end of the next Parliament.

“This plan makes good on that commitment, turning our green economic recovery into reality and helping to support 45,000 jobs

“It is a national strategy driven by the needs of our villages, towns and cities and will deliver benefits to communities across the country. We are living in turbulent times and it is essential that government shows leadership and provides stability and certainty. The Draft IIP provides a robust pipeline of work that will help stimulate a green recovery and offer high quality, sustainable jobs in all parts of Scotland.”

There will also be almost £90m invested in the Dunfermline learning campus. There will also be about £2bn committed, in partnership with councils, to improving the country’s schools estate, after 11 new projects were unveiled last year.

More than £8bn goes for environmental sustainability and the transition to net zero emissions, including £250m to support 18,000 hectares of forestry and restoring peatlands.

Almost £5bn is allocated to inclusive economic growth, with £500m to extend full fibre broadband to businesses and households in rural areas, and £30m for the National Islands Plan.

A further £2.8bn will be invested over the five years in order to build more affordable homes, with £58m being committed to allow social homes to be adopted allowing older people to stay in them longer.