It was unveiled at the annual Angus Health Fair at Forfar’s Reid Hall, where people took the chance to find out about the kind of services to be available there.

Artist’s impressions of the facility, based on the old Whitehills Hospital site, and a virtual trip round it were on offer to fair-goers.

Members of the centre’s project board made the unanimous decision to keep the historic name of Whitehills in response to public demand, after hearing suggestions from staff, patients and locals.

NHS Tayside said dozens of suggestions were made by post, email and telephone, with Whitehills Care Centre, Newhills Health and Resource Centre, Glenloch Centre and the Ivyhill Centre among those put forward.

Centre project co-ordinator Anne Duthie said, “I am delighted that the project board has chosen the name of the Whitehills Health and Community Care Centre directly as a result of public opinion and demand for the name of Whitehills to stay within northwest Angus.

“This new name is intended to evoke the picture of the different types of care being provided at the centre, and the title does just that.”

The facility includes out-patient and x-ray facilities, a minor injuries unit, therapy services, community dentistry and a physical disabilities day centre.

Refurbishment and conversion of Beech Hill House, a residential care home run by Angus Council, is also part of the project, with the Lour Road facility providing two eight-bed residential care units and one eight-place day care centre.

More than 50 local and national groups representing a range of health, housing, social care and environmental organisations were at today’s health fair.