First transfer to site of Edinburgh's new Sick Kids hospital due to happen earlier than expected

Department will begin move from Western General on May 11

Jeane Freeman says the Scottish Government remains committed to the Sick Kids move taking place in the autumn

THE move of a key hospital department from Edinburgh’s Western General to the new Sick Kids site is to take place ahead of schedule, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced.

The Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN), which will sit alongside the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People at Little France, was timetabled to begin transferring services on May 25.

But now Ms Freeman has said the move will begin two weeks earlier on May 11.

She said the earlier transfer was possible because of significant progress made in completing work on the site.

And she confirmed remedial work on the new Sick Kids hospital was also continuing and the government remained committed to the target date of moving into the new building in the autumn.

Both the Sick Kids and the DCN were originally due to move in last summer. But Ms Freeman ordered a last-minute halt to the switch after checks revealed the ventilation system in critical care did not meet national standards, producing only four air changes per hour instead of ten.

She also ordered further checks that uncovered other issues with the ventilation, water, drainage, electrical and fire safety systems.

Remedial work was commissioned and new dates set for the moves of DCN this spring and the Sick Kids by autumn.

Last week, senior medical staff voiced concern about the plan to move the DCN in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, pointing out that staff from the department were working on the frontline, providing round-the-clock care to coronavirus patients in the intensive treatment unit.

In a letter to the Scottish Parliament’s health committee yesterday, Ms Freeman said she had previously told parliament NHS Lothian had been able to confirm a timetable of the DCN transfer beginning on May 25 and completing on May 31.

She continued: “I am writing today to inform you that we now have a revised expected timeline of work completion by April 27 and migration week commencing May 11.”

She added that Scotland’s ban on construction work due to the coronavirus did not include hospitals, so work on the Sick Kids was continuing.

“The priority of the project remains to deliver a safe hospital for the patients of NHS Lothian and we remain committed to delivery against the previously advised timeline.

“Covid-19 is of course a risk we are having to manage and I will continue to keep the parliament up to date on the situation and whether it will impact on our projected timelines.”

Lothian MSP and Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs welcomed the news that the DCN was going to be ready a few weeks ahead of schedule.

He said: “With the escalation of coronavirus cases in Edinburgh and the Lothians we will need to optimise hospital capacity in the coming weeks.

“NHS Lothian must continue to listen to and communicate with frontline staff as the health board faces the significant pressures over the coming period which the coronavirus will present.

“The new Department for Clinical Neuroscience is long overdue and I am pleased that the completion date is finally in sight.”