£150m hospital is delayed again over safety fears
THE opening of a beleaguered children’s hospital has been delayed again due to safety concerns at the £150million building. The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People was due to start treating patients this month but ventilation problems meant the opening was put on hold.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman overruled NHS chiefs to delay moving patients from the current children’s hospital, in Edinburgh, saying safety had to come first.
Yesterday, she announced the new hospital will remain closed while water, ventilation and drainage systems are assessed and repaired. A ‘partial migration’ of some services may take place before the hospital is fully open, but no date was given.
Patients, staff and services at NHS Lothian’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children in the city centre were expected to transfer to the new Little France campus on the outskirts of the capital on July 9.
But the plans were halted after final checks found the critical care department’s ventilation system did not meet national standards.
The hospital has been built by construction firm Multiplex, which was also behind Glasgow’s £842million
‘Inquiry is the least patients deserve’
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – now at the centre of a separate probe after problems with its ventilation, water and drainage, and the death of three patients who had rare hospital infections.
NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is working at the Edinburgh site to ‘give quality assurance on the water, ventilation and drainage systems and establish a time frame for services to move safely’.
NSS will also review other new hospitals and NHS buildings.
An inquiry into the children’s hospital delay is being carried out by management consultant KPMG.
Last night, Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘Oversight for this project rests with the Health Secretary and she has been asleep at the wheel. The decision to involve KPMG displays the depth of the lack of confidence in contractors and those overseeing them.
‘This is a shambles. Patients’ health and safety cannot be put at risk again. These problems must be addressed swiftly.’
Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘The only way to establish the extent of what has gone wrong, why it has happened, and how we can ensure it is not repeated, is to have a full Scottish parliament inquiry. It’s the very least patients, their loved ones and the hard-working staff deserve.’
Announcing the latest delay to the children’s hospital, Miss Freeman said: ‘Safe, effective and highquality clinical services continue to be delivered from the existing site.
‘Infection prevention must always be embedded within the design, planning, construction and commissioning activities of all new and refurbished healthcare facilities, which is why I have instructed NSS to review major capital projects.’
NHS Lothian chief executive Tim Davison said: ‘We are exploring if a partial migration of some services, unaffected by this issue, may be possible. Any such plan would only be agreed after a rigorous risk assessment.’
A spokesman for Multiplex said: ‘Our works on the hospital were signed off as complete by the Independent Certifier on February 22, 2019, when we handed over the building into the possession and operation of NHS Lothian.
‘Any modifications to [the] building that are now deemed necessary, we will provide such assistance to NHS Lothian as may be required.’