Financial contracts have now been signed for the facility with the Scottish Government and construction is set to start next month.
The project is being delivered by NHS Lothian's development partner Hub South East Scotland and the first phase of works will see the outpatient department and combined endoscopy/surgery suite built at the Roodlands Hospital site.
In order for works to start, a number of buildings which occupy the site will be need to be demolished. The hospital is scheduled to be fully operational by early 2020.
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Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "Today is a very exciting milestone in the development of the new East Lothian Community Hospital. It has taken many years of careful planning to get to this point, but I am delighted to be able to announce today that construction work will start in a few weeks on this £70 million project. "The new hospital will be a significant addition to the local healthcare facilities available in East Lothian – bringing services back to the area and helping more patients get treatment closer to home. I look forward to work getting underway and seeing this fantastic new facility become a reality."
Richard Park, Operations Director, Hub South Scotland, added: "This is Hub South East's largest revenue funded project to date and we are proud to have worked in partnership with NHS Lothian for over five years - from the development of the masterplan and clinical model, through to the imminent construction of the new community hospital. "It's been a true collaborative effort to reach this exciting milestone and I'm delighted that we now have everything in place to enable our contractor, Morrison Construction, to start on site next month."
(LM/CD)
