Health Secretary accused of lying over children’s hospital debacle
HEALTH Secretary Jeane Freeman has been accused of lying by the former chief of a controversy-hit NHS board – while opponents have accused her of “playing politics with one of the worst NHS scandals since devolution”.
Ms Freeman will be asked for a response to the claims when Holyrood resumes business today.
Brian Houston, the former chairman of NHS Lothian, quit the organisation in January, citing “fundamental and irreconcilable” differences with Ms Freeman.
Now Mr Houston has accused the Health Secretary of telling lies when she announced a move to the new
Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh was being stopped at the last minute. Mr Houston claimed she wrongly said she was overruling NHS Lothian and said the health board had not made a decision on whether the move should take place or not.
A Scottish Government official said they “totally refute” the claims.
In a parting blow, Mr Houston also described Ms Freeman’s communication with health board managers as “toxic”, according to The Times.
He added that there had been meetings where the Health Secretary had “cut people off at the knees” as an example of “disgraceful” behaviour.
The new hospital at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh campus will not open until at least the autumn and likely come in over budget.
The project has been hit with problems over ventilation, water systems and drainage.
A public inquiry is set to take place into the fiasco – but Mr Houston has resigned and chief executive Tim Goodison will take retirement in August.
According to the Edinburgh Evening News, Mr Houston said: “When we got the word from our independent testers there was potentially a showstopping problem with the ventilation systems in critical care it was like a bomb going off. It was devastating.
“We were then told we had to do nothing, the matter was being taken out of our hands.”
He added: “We sat for the best part of a day biting our nails, then we got the announcement from on high which basically said ‘I have decided and I am overruling NHS Lothian’ that this move will not take place until we have 100 per cent assured ourselves the building is entirely safe in every possible dimension’. Nobody was arguing with the decision having been taken, but to come out and say she was overruling NHS Lothian was a lie.”
Mr Houston said that when NHS Lothian bosses were asked by government officials to explain the situation, Ms Freeman’s response was “contemptuous”.
He added: “She didn’t argue, she didn’t debate. She simply kept expressing and signifying her impatience and contempt. It was embarrassing.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We totally refute the claims made by Mr Houston.
“The Cabinet Secretary and senior management of the health service take their responsibilities for the delivery of safe and effective healthcare extremely seriously and take action to ensure this is the case across NHS Scotland. “Every NHS board chair is subject to an annual appraisal process conducted by the CEO of NHS Scotland.
“Those conversations present an opportunity to discuss successes and challenges in every board and we can confirm that this was the case in NHS Lothian.” Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Miles Briggs has asked for an official response to be provided to MSPS. He said: “Scotland’s Health Secretary has been called a liar by one of the most senior public officials in the land. That’s an incredible situation, and one which she must address immediately.
“We’re demanding she makes a statement to Holyrood this week on the fiasco.
“It seems from Mr Houston’s account that Ms Freeman – who was already under intense pressure because of other health failings across Scotland – used the Sick Kids crisis to show who was boss.
“That would be playing politics with one of the worst NHS scandals since devolution. And amid all this fighting, let’s remember that the new Sick Kids remains empty, and patients and staff have to endure conditions in a relic of a building nearly a decade after they were supposed to move.”