NICOLA Sturgeon has been told that “heads should roll” over the delay to Edinburgh’s Sick Kids hospital.
The flagship Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in the capital’s Little France was due to be up and running by early July, but the grand opening was called off at the last minute by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman after ventilation systems in the critical care department failed to meet basic safety standards.
On Wednesday, the SNP minister told Holyrood that the hospital will remain shut for another year over safety concerns that will cost an extra £32 million to fix.
Freeman told MSPs that as well as the issues with the ventilation systems, there were problems with plumbing, drainage and the water supply.
NHS Lothian is paying about £1.4m in monthly repayments to the private consortium which built the facility.
Auditors from KPMG, who have reviewed the problems, blamed human error stemming for a mistake in the 2012 tender document. They said there was confusion over the interpretation of building standards and guidance, and that opportunities to identify and rectify the crucial error were missed.
At First Minister’s Questions, the Scottish Tories’ acting leader Jackson Carlaw criticised the Scottish Government over the “absolute shambles”. Freeman, he said, had done “too little, too late”.
Carlaw added: “The Sick Kids’ Hospital is just 10 minutes’ drive from where we all are now and yet it seems that four successive health ministers chose either not to know or simply failed to ask about the full extent of the problems faced until way, way too late.”
He continued: “This is a saga from which nobody emerges well. Not the health board, not the contractor and certainly not this Government – and it’s altogether sadly too predictable.I think the country thinks – for once – heads should roll.”
The First Minister acknowledged the situation was “unacceptable”. She said: “To say that the Health Secretary and I are angry at this situation would be an understatement and I know that anger is shared by patients and staff.”
Sturgeon pledged “closer scrutiny and oversight” on the project. She said: “The focus of the Scottish Government is on putting this right.
We will not allow the hospital to open until we are satisfied about patient safety.”
Sturgeon referenced two reports released on Wednesday, which found the ventilation issue that has caused the latest delay did not come to light until the start of July.
“I didn’t know about that, the senior management in the health board – as far as I’m aware – didn’t know about that and the Health Secretary didn’t know about that,” she said.
“As soon as that came to light, the Health Secretary acted properly and appropriately.
“It would have been wrong to allow that hospital to open before assurances about patient safety could have been given.”
She added: “There has been substantial work done over the summer to make sure any other issues have been identified.
“I deeply regret that the hospital will be opening late – extremely late –and it is important that we make sure that every issue that has been identified is addressed so that when it does open it is safe for the patients who use that hospital.”
The First Minister also backed Glasgow City Council’s decision to ban six marches by loyalist and republican groups which were due to take place this weekend.
The council made the decision on the advice of Police Scotland after there was trouble at parades held in the city over the past two weekends.
Sturgeon said: “I believe that the right to march is an important part of our democracy but those who are abusing that right I think are putting it into jeopardy for others. It is also vital that the rights of the majority of law-abiding citizens are protected and given priority.”
She said there was a dialogue to be had with the council over “longer-term questions about whether there are changes required to the law”.
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