A mistake in a spreadsheet calculation set in motion a series of events that led to the delayed opening of the new £150m Sick Kids hospital, a new report has revealed.
Health Minister Jeane Freeman stepped in when last-minute issues with ventilation prevented the opening of Edinburgh’s new children’s hospital last July.
The go-ahead for a new hospital at Little France, a replacement for the ageing Sick Childrens Hospital in Sciennes, was first agreed by NHS Lothian in 2005 but the project has seen a catalogue of delays and spiralling costs.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman, Lothian MSP Miles Briggs, said: ““It is absolutely staggering that this mistake has had such huge repercussions and was not picked up until after the new hospital had been built.
“This review is highlighting how ill equipped health boards are for undertaking projects the magnitude of a new hospital.
“SNP Ministers are ultimately responsible for what has been described as a ‘collective failure’ in the specifications of ventilators at the hospital.
“This fiasco has cost the tax payer enormous amounts of money, money which should have gone towards properly resourcing hospitals and improving treatment times.”
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