Lochaber Health & Social Care Redesign

Understanding social care in Lochaber – together

Community Learning Events in March 2026

Why we’re doing this

Many people in Lochaber will be tired of being asked the same questions, filling in surveys, or turning up to events where it feels like little changes afterwards. We want to be upfront about that.

These Community Learning Events are not starting from scratch. They build on years of work that has already taken place, including the Lochaber Redesign Project and other engagement, planning and improvement activity across the area. We are not asking people to repeat themselves. We are asking for help to test, deepen and make sense of what is already known.

This work is part of the wider Highland Adult Social Care transformation, led by NHS Highland and Highland Council. It is about improving how adult social care works for people, families, carers, communities and the workforce, now and into the future.

From the beginning, we will bring together:

• What is already known from data and previous work
• Learning from past engagement and design projects
• A developing picture of how adult social care currently works in Lochaber

And we will ask a simple, honest question:

Does this reflect your experience? And what is missing?

These events are designed to be connected. Each one builds on the last. Together, they are intended to shape what happens next rather than sit on a shelf.

They are not about presentations or defending decisions. They are about listening, learning and being honest about complexity.

Share what you know

If you or your organisation already holds reports, insight, learning summaries or publicly available data that help tell the story of adult social care in Lochaber, please send them to:

📩 info@in-controlscotland.org.uk

We want to build on what exists, not duplicate effort.

Please share by 27th February 2026 if possible. Public or anonymised material only.

Who is leading the events

NHS Highland and Highland Council have asked In Control Scotland to lead and facilitate these Community Learning Events.

In Control Scotland is a national organisation with extensive experience of supporting communities, people who draw on support, families, and statutory partners to work together in practical, grounded ways. They have previously worked in West Lochaber, supporting approaches that helped learning influence what happened next.

Pauline Lunn, Director of In Control Scotland, said:

“The work we supported in West Lochaber was refreshing and invigorating because it was grounded in real experience and honest conversation. What mattered most was that learning didn’t just stay in the room. It influenced decisions and practice. These events are about creating that same kind of space again, where people’s knowledge is respected and used.”

A note on the new hospital

These events are not a consultation on the new hospital site or its design, and they are not directly about the hospital build.

However, adult social care and hospital services are closely connected in everyday life. People’s experiences of leaving hospital, avoiding admission, or getting support at home matter deeply.

The learning from these events will help inform wider thinking across Highland, including how new facilities are planned and used in future, by ensuring decisions are grounded in lived experience rather than assumptions.

Who these events are for

These Community Learning Events are open to anyone who lives in Lochaber or has a stake in how adult social care works locally, including:

• People who draw on care and support
• Families and unpaid carers
• Community groups, voluntary organisations and local services
• Staff working in public facing support roles across health, social care and the third sector
• Local residents who want to understand or contribute to what happens next

You do not need specialist knowledge or professional experience to take part.

Your lived experience, questions and perspective are what matter.

Dates, locations and how to take part

We will be offering three types of sessions, in different locations to make it easier for people to attend. The first set of events are in March, and we are now taking bookings to attend these.

Event 1

Making sense of adult social care in Lochaber as it is now

This first event is about getting our bearings together.

We will:

• Share what is already known about adult social care in Lochaber
• Ask whether this reflects people’s experience and understanding
• Explore two key questions:
  • What is your understanding of adult social care in Lochaber, including what it is not?
  • What does it feel like to try to access support, whether to get out of hospital or to stay out of hospital?
• Notice where experiences match the picture and where they do not
• Identify gaps, blind spots and things that do not get talked about enough

This event is not about fixing things on the day. It is about seeing the system more clearly, together.

Lunch will be provided at these events, please let us know if you have any dietary requirements.

Check out the 'Key Dates' section on this page for more details

NHS Highland is holding a public drop-in session at the Caol Community Centre on 12^th February, between 10am and 12.30pm. The session will allow members of the local community to see the design proposals for the new hospital, before they are submitted for Planning Permission later in February.

The event is to be supported by members of the NHS Highland Project Team, Balfour Beatty, Keppie Design and Horner and MacLennan Landscape Architects.

The application to amend the Planning in Principle (PIP), was approved at the Highland Council Planning Committee on 3rd December 2025. The application is available to view under ref 25/03053/S42.

The Section 42 application is a request to amend the existing Planning in Principle permission, formerly known as Outline Planning Permission. We expect the full and detailed planning application for the hospital, to be submitted in February or March 2026.

The previous planning Permission in Principle (ref 18/03647/PIP) relates to the whole Blar Mor masterplan and dates from 2018. We’ve applied to amend two elements of this:

• The PiP as existing refers to a hospital of up to 8500m². This was an estimate based on adding a percentage to footprint of the current Belford Hospital, which is just over 6000m². As we now have a clearer understand of what the new facility needs to include and how it will be laid out, the hospital footprint has increased. We’ve therefore applied to increase to footprint to 12,400m² plus an allowance for an energy centre of 1000m². This is slightly more than the current design in order to ensure that if anything needs to change as the design progresses, we don’t need to apply to change the PiP again.

• The PiP as existing refers to separate hospital and STEM centre sites and allocates specific site areas to each. We agreed in 2021 to adopt a ‘campus approach’ with the STEM centre, including a shared car park and service yard. Design work on the detail of the site layout is still underway and we’ll then need to agree with the STEM centre which areas each party will own, and which areas may be shared or owned by one party with a right of access for the other. This is further complicated by the STEM not having a clear timeline for construction. We’ve therefore applied to adjust how the site is described in the permission, proposing one overall site area for a combined STEM and hospital site. This will allow us to agree the detail of ownership and development boundaries in conjunction with the STEM Centre to best suit both developments, while remaining compliant with the PiP.

*STEM Centre stands for Science Technology Engineering and Maths. The building is part of the West Highland College UHI campus.

Highland Health and Social Care Partnership are working with In Control Scotland and Lochaber communities to start conversations about how care and support could work better for everyone in Lochaber.

We will be using the Engagement Hub to share updates, letting you know how you can take part in this work and when we will be visiting your community.

We will also be sharing printable information and ask if you could share these with members of your community who may not be able to take part in online conversations.

Our goal is to reach as many people as we can so we can truly understand peoples experience of social care and we can have meaningful conversations about what the future may look like for you and your community.

We’ve been working with Keppie on a video that gives an overview of the new hospital layout and some of main details on the services to be provided.

Building work for the new hospital is expected to start in 2027.

Click on the subscribe tab to keep up to date with developments for this projects or complete the 'Register an Interest' form if you would like to get involved in area of Healthcare that is of interest to you.