A near century-and-a-half-old hospital in the Highlands is to be replaced with a new £8.3million facility.

The Scottish Government has given the go ahead for the new build at Bonar Bridge in Central Sutherland to replace the ageing Migdale Hospital.

Locality General Manager, Georgia Haire, said: “This is such good news for Sutherland. We are now working hard on the very detailed implementation phase of the project.  

“The hospital will be a hub for mental health services for older people, covering the whole county, and will also enable people with a wide range of conditions to be treated closer to home.

“Specialist community staff will be based at the hospital to enhance the range and flexibility of services available.”

The new hospital, which will provide inpatient and some outpatient services, is to be built in the centre of Bonar Bridge, near to the Bradbury Centre day centre for older people and the GP surgery at Cherry Grove.

Inpatient facilities will be divided into two units – one for older people with mental health needs and the other providing GP-led beds, offering a range of in-patient services, including palliative care, general medicine and less intensive rehabilitation services.

It is hoped that work will start on site early in the New Year and that the hospital will be fully operational in March 2011.