NHS Lothian operations to resume after leak forced closure of key unit at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

NHS Lothian announced on Monday (August 29) that most non-emergency operations would be cancelled due to water leaking in the Hospital Sterilisation and Decontamination Unit (HSDU) at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

The facilty, which serves the whole of NHS Lothian, is where instruments are cleaned and prepared for surgery.

Up to 400 surgical trays are normally processed through the facility every day, but the health board said sufficient capacity for these had now been secured.

This means normal levels of surgery are expected to resume by the end of the week.

It is understood the leak was identified in the ceiling of the unit.

NHS Lothian medical director Tracey Gillies said medical staff will contact patients in coming days about rescheduled operations.

“We are very pleased that we can now focus on rebooking those patients whose operations had been postponed and we will do so by prioritising the most urgent cases first,” she said.

“Our teams will be in touch with their patients directly in the next few days to reschedule as soon as possible, so there is no need for patients to do anything.

“We do not anticipate that any more surgeries will have to be postponed as a result of this problem.

“Once again I’d like to apologise to everyone who has been affected for the worry and inconvenience caused.”