I was delighted to be given a sneak preview of the wonderful new care village in Inverurie this week.

‘Bennachie View’ ( its new name) is the replacement for Blytheswood Care home in Port Elphinstone.the town.
It is built on the same model as Edenholme in Stonehaven with 8 small semi- detached cottages nearby to provide independent living facilities.
I am pleased to say that as former chair of social work and housing this decision to invest £10m was taken by the last administration and we are proud that this commitment was made and hope such investment despite huge cuts to council budgets on the horizon will continue to be made in our frail and elderly.

The exciting innovation with this new care village is that one wing of the facility consisting of 12 beds is leased to NHS Grampian for 5 years for the provision of an in-patient assessment facility for older people with mental ill health.

This model is what we want to see in terms of future joint working between the council and the NHS where we work together, share staff and facilities to get the best possible outcome for vulnerable, elderly people in Aberdeenshire who have very special needs.

I wish Rhoda Hulme and her amazing staff team the very best at Bennachie View and indeed pay tribute to all the excellent council care staff who work day in and out tirelessly to provide high quality care to all our residents in care homes across the Shire.