Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has announced a £409m public-private funding package to enhance hospitals and health centres across the country.
The main beneficiary of the moneypot will be the Royal Edinburgh Hospital (REH), which will get £120m to complete its redevelopment.
Millions more will go towards upgrading existing centres and building new facilities.
The improvements will be funded through the Scottish Government’s non-profit-distributing (NPD) model – a form of public-private partnership that caps private sector returns, with any surplus directed to the public sector rather than shareholders.
These health projects will provide state-of-the-art facilities to care for thousands of patients across Scotland
Sturgeon welcomed the cash for the REH. She also announced that Aberdeen Women’s Hospital would get £90m, £20m would go to the Aberdeen Cancer Centre, £65m would be given to East Lothian Community Hospital, and £20m would be put towards community health projects in Highland, including Skye, Lochalsh, south west Ross-shire and in Badenoch and Strathspey.
In addition, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will get £19m towards primary care improvements, and the same amount will be spent on GP centre enhancements in Grampian.
Sturgeon said: “These health projects will provide state-of-the-art facilities to care for thousands of patients across Scotland.
"This Government's vision is to deliver world-leading safe, effective and person-centred healthcare.
Barry White, chief executive of the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), which developed the NPD model for the Government, added: "This massive investment in healthcare will deliver first-class, well-designed buildings to support local healthcare and create thousands of jobs across Scotland.
"The SFT-managed £3.5billion NPD programme stands as one of the largest infrastructure investment programme of its type across Europe."