Public inquiry into Edinburgh's Sick Kids hospital 'must be brutally honest' says MSP

Answers needed on ‘catastrophic’ project

The hospital was due to open last summer.

The judge-led inquiry into what went wrong with Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids hospital must be “brutally honest” opposition politicians have warned.

The inquiry is due to start its work on August 3, with hearings planned for later.

The new £150 million hospital next to the Royal Infirmary at Little France was due to open last summer. But Health Secretary Jeane Freeman halted the move from its current site at Sciennes at the last minute after checks found the ventilation system in critical care did not meet national standards.

Remedial works were ordered and the hospital is now due to open this autumn, though NHS Lothian has warned the coronavirus crisis may mean that is delayed.

In September Ms Freeman announced a public inquiry into the Sick Kids project and the troubled Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, which was built by the same construction firm.

And in November High Court judge Lord Brodie was appointed to head the probe. Ms Freeman said at the time: “This inquiry and its recommendations will help us learn lessons from recent issues so they are not repeated in the future.”

Today Lothian MSP Conservative Miles Briggs said he hoped the inquiry would look at the role played by the Scottish Government as well as that of the health board and Brookfield Multiplex and other firms involved in the project.

He said: “We have to make sure everyone involved over this sorry period of time is questioned and held accountable. We can’t allow it to be a whitewash.

“There has been a litany of mistakes made by lots of different people. That’s where I hope the public inquiry can be brutally honest.”

Edinburgh Western Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton labelled the project a “catastrophic failure”.

He said: “The citizens of Edinburgh and this country deserve an explanation of why this hospital is sitting empty at a cost of £1.4m a month and was ruled unsafe even to hold potential Covid patients when we felt the NHS was going to be overwhelmed and we had to repurpose the SECC as the Louisa Jordan.

“I hope the inquiry will uncover lessons for future infrastructure projects and the delivery of health in this country.”