Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids hospital won’t be open for at least another year, and fixing the latest blunders will cost the taxpayer an extra £16 million.
On top of the additional £16 million costs, NHS Lothian will continue to pay £1.35 million a month to the site owners at Little France, which will total a further £16 million by the time the hospital finally opens.
The replacement Sick Kids was supposed to open at the end of 2012, but has been repeatedly delayed due to a range of “catastrophic failings”.
A timeline for the phased move of services to the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP) was announced by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman yesterday.
Ms Freeman expects the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN) to move in spring 2020, with the rest of the Children’s Hospital migrating to the new site in autumn next year.
The decision follows the findings of two reports commissioned by the Health Secretary in July to ensure patient safety across the site.
An independent review of the governance arrangements for RHCYP by KPMG has found that the main issue with ventilation in critical care stemmed from an error in a document produced by NHS Lothian at the tender stage in 2012. This was despite the requirement to also adhere to relevant technical guidance.
The KPMG report attributes this to human error and confusion over interpretation of standards and guidance. It also concludes that opportunities to spot and rectify that error were missed.
Ms Freeman said: “I would like to acknowledge the contribution of staff who have continued to provide high quality clinical services. We are all very grateful for their dedication and professionalism in what have been very difficult and disappointing circumstances.
“I also want to thank the patients and families affected for their patience. The safest possible care of their children is my overriding priority and I am sorry for any impact the current situation has had on them.
“I am of course bitterly disappointed that a mistake made in 2012 was not picked up earlier. This is a publicly funded project of strategic importance, which has not been delivered by NHS Lothian in compliance with the standards and guidance. The delay we now face will be borne by NHS Lothian staff, by patients and their families and the additional cost will be to the public purse.
“My overriding priority is that the children and families who depend on these hospital services can receive them in the safest way possible. The current situation is not one anyone would chose – but it is one I am determined to resolve.”
Ms Freeman also asked NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to undertake a detailed assessment of compliance of all building systems which could impact on patients and staff at the new site.
This has identified a range of issues which need to be resolved prior to occupation of the building, including ventilation and water systems. The NSS report makes a number of recommendations which NHS Lothian have accepted and the Scottish Government will publish an action plan from the board along with both reports.
Due to the scale of the challenge relating to the delivery of the new hospital, NHS Lothian has been escalated to level 4 in the NHS Board Performance Framework for this specific issue. The Scottish Government will put in place a Senior Programme Director who will take responsibility for day to day delivery of the RHCYP from now until the site is fully occupied.
As announced in Programme for Government, a new national body will also be created. This will have oversight for the design, planning, construction and maintenance of major NHS Scotland infrastructure developments.
The replacement Sick Kids was supposed to open at the end of 2012, but has been repeatedly delayed due to a range of “catastrophic failings”.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said: “This confirms that patients and their families will have had to wait nearly a decade longer than promised for this much-needed hospital.
“On top of that, the taxpayer will have to fork out more than £30 million between now and next autumn to compensate for these catastrophic failings.
“Staff and families alike will also be sceptical about whether this hospital will be open by next autumn.
“They’ve been promised – year after year – that new timescales will be adhered to, and they’ve been repeatedly let down.
“All over the world new hospitals are built and delivered on time and on budget. Yet under the SNP, from the very outset, this project has been a farce.
“As a result, thousands of young and vulnerable patients from across Scotland will suffer.
“In a cynical move SNP ministers think a 30-minute statement and sneaking out two major reports on the hospital is acceptable when it comes to answering questions.
“It is not and they should hang their heads in shame if they think this is how they prevent parliament holding them to account.
“The scandal surrounding the construction of the new Sick Kids hospital has come to symbolise this SNP government’s incompetence and mismanagement of our NHS.”
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