Opened in 2008 by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon (b.1970), Pitlochry Community Hospital provides healthcare for the people of Highland Perthshire. Located on Ferry Road, between the centre of the village of Pitlochry and the River Tummel, the building features a striking contemporary design and replaces the former Irvine Memorial Hospital. The £7-million development represents an integrated healthcare facility, combining a hospital with a general-practitioner surgery (the Atholl Medical Centre), 50-bed care home for the elderly, ambulance depot and district offices for Perth & Kinross Council social work department.
The hospital includes nine en-suite bedrooms for inpatients, a seven-bed specialist dementia assessment unit (known as the Atholl Unit), a general-practitioner led minor injuries unit and casualty service, together with outpatient clinics for general surgery, gynaecology, orthopaedics, dietetics, speech and language, audiology, orthotics, podiatry and psychiatry.
Designed by Edinburgh-based architects Campbell and Arnott and built by Stewart Milne Construction, the distinctive red and white building is a public-private partnership developed by the Medical Centres Group and overseen by NHS Tayside. It maximises the use of natural ventilation and daylight.
