Edinburgh's new Sick Kids hospital faces fresh delay as Jeane Freeman announces timetable 'under review'

Complexities with work and impact of Covid-19 blamed

The new hospital was due to open on November 23 but that could now be delayed

EDINBURGH’S new Sick Kids hospital looks set to be delayed again after Health Secretary Jeane Freeman admitted the latest opening date was “under review”.

The £150 million hospital next to the Royal Infirmary was due to open in the autumn.

And the Evening News revealed last month that health bosses had set a date of November 23 for the move.

But in a written parliamentary answer, Ms Freeman has now said complexities in the remaining work and the impact of Covid-19 could lead to a delay.

The new building, which will replace the current Sick Kids in Sciennes, was originally expected to be ready in winter 2012, but it suffered a series of delays and the final move was halted at the last minute in July after checks discovered the ventilation in critical care did not meet national standards.

Ms Freeman ordered further checks and in September she announced work totalling £16m needed to be carried out but said the new Sick Kids would open in autumn 2020 with the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN) at the Western General moving to the new site in spring 2020.

In her written answer, issued yesterday, Ms Freeman said: “I halted the move in July 2019 on the utmost priority of patient safety. There continues to be significant positive progress which has led to NHS Lothian taking occupancy of the DCN in May.

“I have been informed by NHS Lothian that due to complexities with the remaining work and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, this has led to possible changes to the delivery of the programme of works to address the issues of patient safety in haemato-oncology. NHS Lothian is working closely with IHSL [the consortium building the hospital] to ensure delivery of the programme as close to the timeframe of a full handover in Autumn 2020, but this timeframe is now under review.

“A refreshed programme is likely to be available during the second half of May and I will of course keep Parliament updated.”

Lothian MSP and Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: Miles Briggs said: “Obviously with the current situation it’s inevitable there will be delays with almost all projects of this nature. What wasn’t inevitable was the SNP’s failure to get this hospital open in anything like the timeframe initially set out.”