NEW SCANDAL ROCKS CRISIS-HIT KIDS’ INFIRMARY
A company that installed drainage systems at Edinburgh’s crisis- hit Sick Kids’ Hospital was given £4million months before going bust.
Dunne Group was handed the money by the main contractor Multiplex as an advance in 2016 in a bid to keep the firm afloat.
But in June that year, it plunged into administration mid-contract sparking delays to the hospital which has still not opened due to serious construction concerns.
Multiplex won a High Court ruling in 2017 against Falkirkbased owner Gordon Dunne in a bid to claw back its cash.
It has now emerged that NHS Lothian was forced to hand out an extra £ 11.6million in February last year after serious issues with drainage and other aspects of the new building were discovered.
Dunne Group was by that time defunct but a spokesman for Integrated Health Solutions Lothian – the consortium in charge of the project – has admitted Dunne carried out the original work.
He said: “We can conf irm that Dunne completed the underground drainage works as part of their groundwork’s contract.”
Dunne Group ’s collapse was blamed on cash flow issues.
The Sunday Mail can reveal that in the years before it went into administration, m i l l ions of pounds were paid out to another firm controlled by Dunne and two fellow directors for “management services”.
Company accounts show Dunne Management LLP – of which Gordon Dunne, Johanna Dunne and Kevin Graham were the sole members – billed Dunne Group for£3.7million over four years. works and “associated support services”. Health Secretary Jeane Freeman halted the transfer of patients to the new hospital earlier this year after final checks revealed the critical care department’s ventilation system did not meet national standards. She says NHS National Services Scotland is working to “give qual ity assurance on the water, ventilation and drainage systems”.
Unison’s Tam Waterson said: “Very senior people said to me they were alerted to an issue with the drainage two-and-a-half years ago. A court case was threatened and a settlement agreement came about. There are people who still aren’t convinced the drainage issue had been remedied.
“The more I have learned about this, the more I feel that there is something that just isn’t right about the whole contract.”
Multiplex said: “Our works were signed off as complete by the independent certifier on February 22, when we handed over the building to NHS Lothian. To the extent modifications to the building are necessary, we will provide such assistance to NHS Lothian as may be required.”
When we approached Gordon Dunne at his home, a woman who answered said he did not want to comment.
Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “The buck stops with Jeane Freeman and we are calling for an independent public inquiry into the scandal.”