Friends of Insch Hospital and Community SCIO

05/11/2026

Thank you SO much to everyone who bought our Christmas cards and Peggy's socks at the Christmas shopping event in the village last night. Thank you to Stephens DIY INSCH for their help.
Cards and socks still on sale at Stephens DIY. Cards are also at Insch Health Centre & Insch Podiatry.
Packs 10 £3.00 each.
🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄

03/11/2026

Insch Christmas Shopping tomorrow night! 🎅
We are very grateful to Stephens DIY INSCH for selling our new Christmas cards and Peggy's wonderful hand knitted socks.
Why not shop local this year and pop along tomorrow and start your Christmas shopping.
🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄

26/09/2026

💙 Built by the people, for the people 💙

We were delighted to see this wonderful feature celebrating the remarkable story of six of Aberdeenshire’s community hospitals - hospitals that were built because local communities came together and made them happen.

Insch & District War Memorial Hospital is one of them 🏥

Our hospital has a very special history. It was built by the people of Insch & District as a lasting memorial to those who lost their lives in the First World War and opened its doors in 1922.

Generations of local people have supported, used and cared about this hospital. It is more than a building - it is part of our community’s history and identity.

It’s such a shame that this important story didn’t make it into the printed press, because these hospitals and the communities who built and supported them deserve to have their stories heard and remembered.

Built by the people. Supported by the people. Still worth fighting for - and surely deserving of an answer to one simple question: Why Insch Hospital? 💙

Built to heal, remember and serve, community hospitals have been at the heart of Aberdeenshire towns and villages for more than a century. Here we look back at the institutions in Aboyne, Banff, Huntly, Insch, Inverurie and Torphins. Read more: https://ebx.sh/hvCS0V

17/09/2026

04/09/2026

**updated with IJB meeting link**

So, why Insch?

That is the simple question the community deserves an answer to.

Turriff Community Hospital is 131 years old, older than Insch - and has many of the same challenges, including narrow corridors. Yet it remains open and is being upgraded, with around £250,000 invested in Turriff over the last three years.

Then there is Huntly’s Jubilee Hospital, which opened in 1889 and is now 137 years old. It too has received significant investment, with around £1.2 million spent across the site.

Yet Insch’s 104 year.old War Memorial Hospital, built through the generosity of its community as a lasting memorial to those who fell in the First World War, has now been formally closed.

And let's not forget the history of community investment in Insch Hospital.

The original hospital was built because the people of Insch and the surrounding communities wanted to create a lasting memorial. Money was raised, mainly through public subscription.

The hospital opened in August 1922 as a War Memorial Hospital, providing medical, surgical and maternity services.

The community continued to invest in its hospital. In 1972, a day room was added using funds raised by the local community, and in 1993 the Friends of Insch Hospital contributed towards another extension.

This is a hospital that the community has supported, funded and invested in for generations.

Nearly £500,000 has been raised by The Friends towards refurbishing and developing the hospital, with a commitment to continue fundraising to meet whatever further funding was required.

That offer was ignored and wasn't even mentioned at the IJB meeting.

The Friends offered to fund a 12 bed extension and refurbishment of the existing building, with a commitment to continue fundraising to meet whatever further funding was required.

So, if the Friends were willing to raise the money and continue fundraising, why wasn't that option properly considered?

And where does that leave the IJB Board and the local councillors who sit on it?

They have a responsibility to represent their communities and to scrutinise decisions that effect local services.

What questions were asked on behalf of Insch?

What challenge was made to the decision to close the hospital?

And why wasn't the Friends offer given the consideration it deserved?

This has been a six year process, during which the community has repeatedly been asked for its views through the SNA and again through the more recent survey.

The community took the time to respond, share its concerns and put forward alternatives.

After six years of consultation and engagement, there must now be accountability for the flawed process, the decisions that have been made and the alternatives that were put forward.

Why was investment available to maintain, upgrade and develop other community hospitals, but not Insch?

If community and intermediate care are genuinely the future, why wasn't Insch given the opportunity to be modernised, extended or developed?

Why is an older building in Turriff considered worth investing in, and an even older hospital in Huntly considered worth maintaining and developing, while Insch was closed?

We are not asking for special treatment.

We are asking for fair treatment, accountability, a proper comparison and a clear explanation of why Insch was treated differently.

The community has done its part, attendding countless meetings, engaging throughout the six year process, responding to consultations, completing surveys, raised funds and put forward alternatives.

Now it is only fair that the community gets answers in return.

The hospital may now be closed, but the questions remain.

The community deserves answers.


NHS Grampian
The Press and Journal Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership - AHSCP
Aberdeenshire Council
Moray Grant - SNP Cllr for West Garioch
Gordon and Buchan Conservatives - Cllr Sam Payne
Councillor Hazel Smith for West Garioch
Cllr Ross Cassie
David Keating for Inverurie
Councillor Gordon lang - Turriff and district ward
Councillor Anne Stirling, Turriff & District
Friends of Insch Hospital and Community SCIO
Evening Express

IJB meeting link: ffwd to 29.30 Prt 1, cont Prt 2

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02/09/2026

Sharing this because today’s IJB vote to permanently close Insch War Memorial Hospital cannot be looked at in isolation.

We are deeply saddened by today’s decision and stand firmly with everyone in our community who has supported the hospital and the campaign to protect it.

1,400 people took the time to respond to the consultation survey. That is a significant level of community engagement and should not be dismissed as a handful of objections.

More than half of respondents said closure would have a “very big impact”, yet the report acknowledges that the decision was “not aligned” with the preferences of many respondents.

So the question has to be asked: if the community was asked for its views, how much weight did those views actually carry in today’s decision?

The survey only closed on 31 July. Was there genuinely enough time to properly analyse 1,400 responses, consider the concerns raised, assess all alternatives and allow those findings to meaningfully influence the decision?

At the same time, we are hearing about the importance of community and intermediate care. So why is a community hospital with an established role in local care being closed rather than properly considering how it could contribute to that model?

This isn't about being against change or modernising healthcare. It is about whether the process was robust, transparent and genuinely responsive to the community.

1,400 people took the time to have their say, but today the IJB voted unanimously to close the hospital.

The Aberdeenshire Integration Joint Board must now be held accountable for both the decision and the process that led to it.

We want to thank every single person who supported us - those who completed the survey, signed petitions, shared our posts, attended meetings, contacted representatives and stood up for our hospital 💖

We are incredibly grateful for the strength of feeling and support shown by the community.

We will now take some time to reflect on today’s decision and will be meeting shortly as a committee to discuss where we go from here. We will update our supporters and the wider community once we have agreed our next steps.

Today is a very sad day for Insch and the surrounding communities 💔

The community deserves answers.

31/08/2026

🚨 THIS WEDNESDAY 🚨

The Integration Joint Board (IJB) is recommending the formal closure of Insch Hospital, and members will vote on this recommendation at their meeting this Wednesday.

📅 Wednesday, 2nd September
⏰ 10am
📍 Woodhill House
📋 Agenda Item 8 – Insch Hospital

This is an important meeting for the future of our hospital and our community.

👉 Meeting agenda, papers & livestream:
[https://aberdeenshire.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=166&MId=8491&Ver=4](https://aberdeenshire.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=166&MId=8491&Ver=4)

Please share and make sure our community knows that Insch Hospital is Agenda Item 8 and its formal closure is being considered.

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14/08/2026

How many more heartbreaking and alarming headlines will we read before someone finally sees sense?

The Press and Journal headline says it all:

“Delayed discharges and overcrowded wards remain the biggest obstacles to improving urgent and emergency care.”

The article highlights the NHS Grampian bed-blocking crisis, including the shocking figure of ambulance crews waiting 768 hours outside hospitals.

And yet we have a valuable local hospital in Insch.

How many more headlines do we need before we start looking seriously at the resources we already have?

Our GPs, nurses and ambulance workers have been speaking about this crisis. They see first-hand the impact of bed shortages, delayed discharges, overcrowded wards and patients being moved further and further from home.

We also need to recognise the stress and pressure being placed on GPs trying to find appropriate community beds for their patients - particularly when they have been told that there are plenty of beds available, yet finding one when it is actually needed can be a very different story.

At our recent public meeting, we heard first-hand about ambulance waiting times of 12 hours as a minimum, and heartbreaking stories of families having to stand by helplessly and watch their loved ones moved miles from home.

One of those stories was that of a cherished Dad.

When there were no beds available closer to home, Dad was sent to the only available bed in Stonehaven. From there, he was transferred to ARI for a few days, before ultimately being moved again to Huntly Hospital.

After being assessed by a doctor who had just come on shift at ARI and deemed fit to travel, Dad was transferred to Huntly.

Tragically, Dad died just 50 minutes after arriving at Huntly Hospital 💔

Families should not have to stand by helplessly while their loved ones are moved from hospital to hospital, further and further from home and the people who love them.

Surely this cannot be acceptable for our loved ones - people who worked hard, paid into our NHS and contributed to the communities they lived in.

🎥 Nearly 400 voices were heard at our recent public meeting. That is a community making its position very clear. ❤️

So, with NHS Grampian facing these enormous pressures, why are we not looking at every available resource?

Insch Hospital is there.
The beds are there.
The community need is there.

USE IT....

Reopen Insch Hospital and put those beds and services back to work.

Use them for step-down care, rehabilitation and palliative care.

Use them to help patients who no longer need an acute hospital bed to recover safely closer to home.

Use them to help tackle delayed discharges and bed blocking, freeing up much-needed beds in our larger hospitals.

Use them to help relieve pressure on acute hospitals and ambulance services, so ambulances can get back on the road and emergency departments can focus on those who genuinely need urgent care.

And use them to ease the pressure on GPs and community services, giving them access to local beds when patients need care and support beyond what can be provided at home.

Most importantly, keep our loved ones closer to home, closer to their families and within their own communities.

This isn't simply about reopening a building.

It is about using a valuable resource to help address a crisis that is happening right now.

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW!

REOPEN INSCH HOSPITAL.
RESTORE OUR LOCAL BEDS AND SERVICES.

How many more headlines warning of a health service in crisis will it take before someone finally listens?



https://www.facebook.com/share/1J3hrZKZkS

The Press and Journal Evening Express NHS Grampian

11/08/2026

Following some of the comments on our recent posts, we believe it's important to clarify our position and refocus the conversation on what this campaign has always been about: restoring healthcare services for our community.

We're simply pleased that someone is taking an interest in highlighting our cause.

There have been comments suggesting that we are being "used" by our MP and MSP. The reality is that, after years of being ignored, we welcome anyone who is prepared to listen, ask questions and help shine a light on what our community has been fighting for.

For six years, following the temporary closure of Insch Hospital, we have attended countless meetings, participated in a Strategic Needs Assessment, and engaged fully with every stage of the process. We have done everything that has been asked of us. Throughout that time, we have often felt misled, ignored and left without clear answers. At times, it has seemed as though we were being led through a process in the hope that, eventually, we would simply give up.

We believe the process has been flawed from the outset. Insch was the only community hospital required to undertake a Strategic Needs Assessment following COVID, despite our community making it clear from the beginning that we wanted our hospital reopened. Six years later, that has still not happened. Meanwhile, another community hospital did not undertake the same assessment and remains open.

We also believe it is reasonable for our community to ask why Insch appears to be being treated differently from other community hospitals. If concerns such as narrow corridors or the age of the building are considered barriers to reopening Insch, why have similar issues not prevented other community hospitals, such as Turriff, from continuing to provide services? Our community deserves a clear, transparent and evidence-based explanation.

There has also been a lack of transparency from Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership (AHSCP). They asked our community to take part in this process, yet for the past six years we have been left to act as the link between local people and the decision-makers, attending meetings on behalf of our community. They were invited to our recent public meeting but chose not to attend.

This campaign has never been about politics or political parties. It has always been about restoring the healthcare services our community needs and deserves. We will work with anyone —regardless of political affiliation —who is genuinely willing to help achieve that goal.

It is disappointing that some recent comments have shifted the focus away from the real issue. Instead of discussing how we can restore vital healthcare services to our community, attention has been diverted towards political point-scoring. That helps no one, least of all the people who depend on these services.

If anyone has questions or would like to discuss the campaign, please get in touch with us directly. We are always happy to have respectful conversations and answer any queries.

Our focus remains exactly where it has always been: securing the reinstatement of vital local, rural beds and services for our community and the wider Aberdeenshire community.

We hope everyone who cares about that goal will work together to help make it happen.

Just how much these services are missed is clear to see — and hear - here ... 🎥

05/08/2026

Andy Burnham John Swinney - please watch this video and hear the voices of the people
of Insch and Aberdeenshire

380 people from our
community came together
with one clear message:

"Open Insch Hospital now!"

This is not just a protest. It is
the voice of a community
asking to be heard








Please keep tagging and
sharing We have to believe
someone will listen 🙏