Plans to create new ward at Larbert’s Forth Valley Royal Hospital

At a meeting of Forth Valley NHS Board on Tuesday, members heard the proposal was currently going through the planning process at Falkirk Council and seven potential suppliers of the building had been identified.

The extension plans are part of the board’s Elective Care Development Programme – which seeks to deliver additional capacity for providing elective care through various means.

It is hoped the new inpatient ward, which will be located at the rear of the hospital adjacent to the mental health unit, will be up and running by April next year.

The report stated: “At the outset of the programme, an extension to the hospital was not considered a viable option on the basis of cost. However, a cost comparison for constructing the ward within the hospital footprint, with associated service moves and department redesign, compared to an extension using modular construction methodology, demonstrated an extension could be provided within a similar level of capital expenditure.

“The benefit of the ward extension using modular construction, compared to the ward build in the former rehabilitation area, is that this does not require internal service moves and department redesign and can therefore be delivered more quickly.”

Senior staff from Forth Valley visited the birthing unit at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to see an existing modular building and were very impressed by the quality of the build.