One of the key elements of our healthcare strategy, Achieving Excellence, is organising hospital care in centres of excellence.

Centres of excellence deliver high quality speciality services for the whole of Lanarkshire from one hospital site.

Dr Iain Wallace, NHS Lanarkshire’s medical director, said: “Hospitals as centres of excellence is not a new idea in Lanarkshire. Many of our hospital services are already organised into centres of excellence.

“For example, specialist vascular surgery is provided at Hairmyres, urology and ear, nose and throat surgery at Monklands and paediatrics at Wishaw General.

“This approach allows staff to develop their skills to a high level through specialisation which is why we want to increase the number of services we deliver in this way.”

Centres of excellence deliver consistently high levels of clinical quality and patient satisfaction and enable the highest possible standards of safety and clinical care. They allow patients to be seen sooner and recover better and faster than if services were spread across every hospital.

Patients using these services mostly still attend clinics, pre-admission assessment and rehabilitation at their local acute hospital.

As we further develop centres of excellence, NHS Lanarkshire has made a commitment that Wishaw General, Hairmyres and Monklands hospital will all continue to deliver emergency care with each hospital including:

• Consultant-led emergency department
• Acute medical and surgical services
• Diagnostics and imaging
• Operating theatres and critical care
• Outpatient services.