'It could be worse than the trams' - Edinburgh's new Sick Kids Hospital could face another six-month delay, claims MSP

The hospital is due to open in autumn this year - but Tory MSP Miles Briggs says the timetable looks unrealistic

EDINBURGH’S troubled new Sick Kids Hospital could face another six-month delay, an MSP has claimed.

Lothian Tory MSP Miles Briggs said after speaking to senior NHS managers he believed the promised opening date of autumn 2020 looked “unrealistic” and a more likely timetable would see the £150m hospital open in spring 2021.

He said: “The Sick Kids is already running later than the disastrous tram project, which was two and a half years overdue when it was finally finished.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman told MSPs the project remains on target

“NHS Lothian have not yet commissioned the remedial work or agreed a price with what will be another contractor. It’s going to be a licence to print money.

“Senior NHS management have suggested this will result in the need for seven day / 24 hour working to actually meet the timescale. I’m also concerned about the warranties the building will hold.”

The hospital was due to open in July but Ms Freeman ordered a delay after last-minute checks revealed ventilation in critical care did not meet national standards.

NHS Lothian chair Brian Houston resigned last week, citing “fundamental and irreconcilable differences” with Health Secretary Jeane Freeman. And chief executive Tim Davison has announced he will retire in August.

Mr Briggs said: “Given the scandal surrounding the project to date I have increasing concerns that there is now a total breakdown in communication between NHS Lothian and SNP ministers and that the timescale for the opening of the new Sick Kids is rapidly becoming unrealistic.

“Ministers will I’m sure set up NHS Lothian to take the blame and then announce a further delayed timescale of spring 2021 taking the actual opening beyond the Holyrood elections.”

Mr Briggs challenged Ms Freeman in the Scottish Parliament yesterday over a potential further delay, but she denied it.

She said: “The current programme remains on time to meet the timsecale I set out.

“That is the timescale that I required and if there are difficulties or problems at any point with that I will of course return to the chamber and inform members.”

Ms Freeman refused to discuss with MSPs the “fundamental differences” which Mr Houston claimed had forced him to resign. He claimed there was a “blame culture” in the NHS and accused the Scottish Government of underfunding NHS Lothian.

Labour’s Monica Lennon asked what steps had been taken to look into Mr Houston’s claims. But Ms Freeman told MSPs she was not going to “rehearse in public” conversations she had had with health board chairs.

She said: “I have no intention of going through point by point what Mr Houston has expressed as his views. Suffice it to say he has resigned, I have accepted his resignation and plans are in process to appoint an interim chair for NHS Lothian and begin the formal appointment process through the public appointments procedure for a full-time chair.”

Edinburgh Southern Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said her refusal to explain the resignation “simply isn’t good enough”.

He said: “We have a health board in special measures, a hospital costing £1.4m a month which cannot open. It is in the public interest to understand what this fundamental difference of opinion is.”

But Ms Freeman insisted: “I’m not going to get into a public tit for tat debate with Mr Houston about what he put in his resignation letter. It is entirely inappropriate to do so.

“My view is I expect leadership across our NHS to accept proper accountability for the failures and decisions and action and performance of individual boards, just as I accept accountability overall for how the NHS is performing.”