Edinburgh's new Sick Kids hospital: inquiry chair urges families of affected children to come forward

Parents and families of patients whose care and treatment may have been impacted by the delayed opening of Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids hospital are being urged to contact the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, which is looking into the problems surrounding the project.

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Inquiry chair Lord Brodie is calling on anyone living in or around Edinburgh and the Lothians to get in touch if they have any information they feel is important to share.

The independent Inquiry is investigating the delayed opening of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Little France.

Lord Brodie will chair the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry

The £150 million new hospital was due to open in July 2019, but the last-minute discovery that the ventilation system did not meet national standards forced a postponement and it became fully operational only in March this year when the last remaining services were transferred from the old site at Sciennes.

Lord Brodie, a former High Court judge, was appointed in November 2019 to lead the inquiry into what went wrong withe the new hospital and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, which was built by the same construction firm, Multiplex.

Public hearings are scheduled to begin on September 20 and the Inquiry wants to establish what impact the construction issues that led to the delay had on patient care and treatment, as well as the wider impact on families. This could range from the postponement of scheduled treatment plans to patients being diverted to other hospitals.

Lord Brodie said: “Our focus for hearings in September will be on patients and their families and we would like to encourage more people from Edinburgh and the surrounding areas who may have been impacted to contact us.

“We want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to speak with us and I want to reassure those with a story to share that my team will handle this with the utmost respect and sensitivity.”

Relevant information can be shared by calling the Inquiry’s dedicated phone line on 0808 196 5000 and leaving a message or emailing [email protected]. Further contact details are available on the website www.hospitalsinquiry.scot.

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