A NEW £5 million intensive care unit (ICU) has officially opened at a hospital in Paisley.

Patients will now be cared for at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC)’s new state-of-the-art facility at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Investment for the unit, which has nine bed spaces, was approved in 2016 with work beginning a year later.

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John Brown, NHSGGC chair, unveiled a special dedicated plaque at the ICU on Monday.

The Gazette: Staff from the new ICU with NHSGGC chair John Brown and chief executive Jane Grant (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde/PA)Staff from the new ICU with NHSGGC chair John Brown and chief executive Jane Grant (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde/PA)

He said: “I was delighted to have been asked to officially open this new Intensive Care Unit.

“I am confident that these new facilities will significantly enhance the quality of care and available for patients, families and staff, both in the immediate future and in the years come.

“The unit looks spectacular in design and the air of space, light and calm will be of great comfort to patients and families at such an anxious time.”

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On February 19 this year the first patient was treated in the new unit.

The previous space opened as a high dependency unit in 1986 and became an ICU a decade later.

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