Taxpayers face £416million bill for hospital that failed to open
After faults f iasco, eye-watering cost of SNP f inance revealed
THE new hospital for sick children in Edinburgh will end up costing taxpayers £416 million, we can reveal today.
The figure is set to include a £6.6 million payout this year – even though key departments of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People may not open until well into 2020.
The hospital was supposed to welcome its first patients on Tuesday. But the move from the current hospital in Sciennes to the new building at Little France was postponed on Thursday – after a fault was discovered in the ventilation system, affecting critical care wards.
The Scottish Government has put the cost of building the new hospital at £150 million. But it can be revealed the true cost is almost three times as much.
That is because the hospital was built through the Government’s private finance scheme, the Scottish Futures Trust. It will mean NHS Lothian makes 25 annual payments to cover the cost of the build, interest and maintenance, with the first one due this financial year.
In total, £416.2 million of taxpayers’ money will be handed over to lenders M&G Investments and the European Investment Bank.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘Given the ever increasing delays to this project, it’s hardly a surprise that costs have skyrocketed.
‘Since it was announced seven years ago, the new sick kids’ hospital has been beset with difficulties and delays, all of which have happened on the SNP’s watch.
‘After 12 years of SNP mismanagement, it is clear we cannot trust the SNP with our Scottish NHS.’
The contract for building the hospital was awarded to Multiplex, which has been blamed for ‘botched’ work on the £1billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH), in Glasgow.
Two patients, including a boy of ten, died after contracting the fungal infection Cryptococcus at the QEUH, in December. The deaths were linked to pigeon droppings in the ventilation system.
NHS Lothian had actually signed off the new children’s hospital in Edinburgh. Even after last-minute safety checks had uncovered the ventilation fault, it was still looking at a partial opening. But Health Secretary Jeane Freeman overruled it on grounds of ‘patient safety’, judging that any form of opening presented ‘too great a risk’. She has now ordered all safety checks to be redone.
There will also be an investigation into why NHS Lothian was so confident the new hospital met safety standards.
It is hoped some areas of the hospital will then be able to open, but it will be some time before patients are seen in the critical care and emergency departments. Miss Freeman said: ‘It is likely to take months rather than weeks, but that is just about the critical care and emergency departments.
‘If that means opening in the winter months, then there are important decisions to take around safety. I can’t say when critical care and emergency will move into that new hospital.’
The Scottish Government said no money will be handed over until it is satisfied the contractor has fulfilled its obligations.
A spokesman said: ‘As published previously, the capital cost of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People will be £150 million, which excludes any life-cycle costs from operating the building.
‘The £416 million referenced will be the unitary charge NHS Lothian pay over the 25-year contract, which includes a range of life-cycle costs such as maintenance and upkeep, as well as the capital repayment and interest costs.’
‘It’s clear we cannot trust the SNP with our NHS’