Community Hospitals in Aberdeenshire

A Review of Community Hospitals in Aberdeenshire
The Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership have begun a review of Community Hospitals to ensure they are sustainable and able to meet community need now and in the future. Please see the Background information further below for more detail.

Update from Phase 1 Engagement (Oct - Nov 2025) !!
During October and November 2025, we asked Aberdeenshire residents to tell us their experiences of accessing services in our Community Hospitals. This was done through face-to-face events and a questionnaire. We also asked staff about their experiences of working in the hospitals. Please view our Engagement Report which summarises the engagement process and the feedback we received. Two key themes from the public are:

• Local access is not just a convenience—it is a lifeline, especially for the most vulnerable; and
• Staff are the heart of the service, their approachability and continuity matter as much as clinical skill.

A report on the first phase of the review was discussed at the Integration Joint Board meeting on 28^th January 2026. You can review the report and appendices – see item 11 on the agenda. The Board agreed a recommendation to start Phase 2 of the review, which is to develop a route map and delivery plan for our community hospital network for 2027-2037. No hospital closures are being proposed.

Background
Across Aberdeenshire we have 9 Community Hospitals which provide a wide range of services for people in their local community - from inpatient care including: mental health, palliative and end of life care, complex clinical care, rehabilitation and enablement through to outpatient clinics and Minor Injury Units. Each of our Hospitals is unique.

We are currently undertaking a review of our Community Hospitals to better understand how we might use them in the future to ensure that people in all of our communities can access the treatment and care that they need.

There are some key challenges that our community hospitals are currently facing:

• many of our hospital buildings are older and will require significant investment over the coming years,
• recruiting staff to rural or more remote areas staffing can be a challenge. 

Insch Community Hospital

A separate process is underway for Insch Community Hospital, and a steering/project group is currently in development to progress engagement and communications with the local community.