Cabinet secretary for health, wellbeing and sport, Shona Robison, marked the progress of works on the new £70 million East Lothian Community Hospital by joining guests on the roof of the nearly complete Out-patients Department.

The programme of works is seeing a modern and purpose-built hospital developed on the existing Roodlands site in Haddington, helping improve the quality of care for people in East Lothian.

Ms Robison said: “This new hospital brings state of the art facilities to East Lothian, allowing many people in the area to be treated closer to home.

“This is an important step forward for the communities in East Lothian and we are a step closer to seeing this new facility become a reality.

“The Scottish Government is investing over £1.2 billion on the NHS estate over the next three years. Our investment in these new facilities will help us to achieve our ambition of transforming the way health and social care services are delivered, keeping NHS Scotland at the forefront of delivering world-class care.”

David Small, chief officer, East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “The progress to date shows the significant scale of the development and the plans for enhancing more joined-up health and social care services through the East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership are taking shape.

“The new facilities will see a return of some services to East Lothian with an increase of 60 percent of inpatient beds. With the help of our patients, this project will allow our staff to continue to provide safe, effective healthcare and rehabilitation.

“Throughout the extensive planning process we listened to what mattered most to people and with the invaluable input of the community, patients and their families, third sector organisations and staff we will have a facility we can be proud of.”

The redevelopment of the hospital site is being undertaken in partnership with hub South East Scotland Ltd, with Morrison Construction the main contractor.

Paul McGirk, chief executive, hub South East Scotland Ltd, NHS Lothian’s development partner, said: “Having been involved in this project since the early stages as Hub South East helped drive plans for the redevelopment, it’s fantastic to see the progress being made on site.

“This is our largest project to begin construction, and the biggest Hub deal signed so far in Scotland. We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with NHS Lothian to ensure that patients will benefit from modern, fit for purpose facilities and the community will benefit from investment in the local area.”

Morrison Construction managing director, Eddie Robertson, said: ”It is great to see the shell of this major infrastructure project substantially complete, giving people a visible reminder of this much-anticipated community facility. Seeing the hospital take shape is creating a lot of fresh interest in the local community and among healthcare staff.

”Progress on the site is continuing to gain momentum with works on the roofing, external walls and the internal fit out all underway.

“We are also thrilled to be working with pupils from six local high schools to help them gain a solid grounding in the skills demanded by the modern construction industry, including mentoring support, on-site experience and work placement opportunities. Attracting the very brightest and creative young minds into the built environment sector is essential to the health and vibrancy of this critical industry.”

Work on site has already delivered a new car park and the new Out-Patients departments should be open as early as 2018. Construction work on the remainder of the development will be complete in 2020.