Edinburgh Eye Pavilion: MSPs call for guarantee that hospital will reopen after 6-month temporary closure

They are asking Lothian health chiefs for a commitment that the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion will reopen at the end of the six-month period which the plumbing work is expected to take.

The hospital, in Chalmers Street, was declared not fit for purpose in 2014. The Scottish Government agreed in 2018 to build a new replacement hospital next to the Royal Infirmary at Little France, but cancelled it two years later. It relented after a public outcry and pledged it would go ahead, but now the project has been put on hold as part of a capital spending freeze.

NHS Lothian announced earlier this week that the current Eye Pavilion building would close from October 28 for two waste pipes to be replaced and asbestos to be removed. Patients are to be directed to “other locations” for appointments, but no details have yet been given.

However, fears have been expressed that the temporary closure could lead to a permanent closure by the backdoor.

Now Edinburgh Southern Labour MSP Daniel Johnson and eight other MSPs have written to NHS Lothian chief executive Caroline Hiscox, calling for an assurance that the Eye Pavilion will reopen when the work is completed.  

Mr Johnson said: “Eye Pavilion patients and staff have been let down badly time and time again. We all know the building has been unfit for purpose for some time and despite repeated promises from two First Ministers we are no closer to a replacement facility. 

“Patients will be anxious, given the state of the building, whether or not the announced closure will be made permanent. That is why MSPs are seeking urgent clarification from the health board that the building will reopen in six months’ time.” 

The letter says that news of the temporary closure had caused anxiety among many people. “Despite reassurances from NHS Lothian, constituents are worried that urgent appointments may be delayed and/or relocated to other health boards, and that this temporary closure may be extended and ultimately become permanent without any plans in place for a new permanent facility.

“Can you reassure patients by making the commitment that the PEAP closure will be no more than six months, and thus will re-open no later than the end of April?”

The other signatories to the letter are Lothian Labour MSPs Sarah Boyack and Foysol Choudhury, Lothian Tory MSPs Miles Briggs, Jeremy Balfour and Sue Webber, Linlithgow SNP MSP Fiona Hyslop, East Lothian-based South of Scotland Labour MSP Martin Whitfield and Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone, who is the Scottish Parliament’s presiding officer.

The letter also expresses disappointment that the closure announcement came the same week that NHS Lothian had cancelled a briefing for Edinburgh and Lothian MSPs “which could have been used as an opportunity for you to brief elected representatives and assuage concerns”.

And it adds: “In light of this, we would like to urgently request a briefing for Edinburgh and Lothian MSPs, to enable us to seek clarity on the situation.”