Edinburgh Eye Pavilion will fully reopen by end of June following temporary closure for urgent repairs

A phased return to the Chalmers Street building will begin on May 19 and services are expected to be fully back in place six weeks later.

NHS Lothian announced in September that the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Chalmers Street would have to close for six months for removal of asbestos and replacement of water pipes.

The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh is currently closed for urgent repairs | JPI Media

Services were relocated to other NHS Lothian sites, with all surgery and inpatient services switched to St John’s Hospital, Livingston, while the Acute Referral Clinic, which deals with emergency cases referred by doctors and opticians, and many outpatient clinics were relocated to the Lauriston Building, across the road from the Eye Pavilion. The new Sick Kids hospital and East Lothian Community Hospital were also earmarked to accommodate services.

In January the cost of the project was put at around £4 million - up to £1.9m for repair work , with another £1.9m for transferring staff and equipment to different locations.

The timeline had to be extended after additional asbestos works were required. But now NHS Lothian officials have told Lothian Labour MSP Sarah Boyack that the additional work has progressed well and plans for remobilisation of services into the Eye Pavilion are now being finalised.

In a letter to Ms Boyack, they said NHS Lothian was due to receive the building back from contractors on May 16. The letter continued: " To get services back into the Eye Pavilion as soon as possible, parallel recommissioning works have already commenced, such as water sampling, ventilation measurement and cleaning activity.

"The service will then undertake a 6-week phased programme from 19 May 25 to reestablish activity back into the Eye Pavilion from the temporary locations currently in place, with all services returning by the end of June."

But the reopening process will mean some further disruption, with both routine outpatient appointment and routine operations put on hold while equipment is moved back to the Eye Pavilion and recalibrated by external specialists.

The letter said: "Clinically routine outpatient activity will pause for a period of two weeks (w/c 9 Jun and 16 Jun) and routine surgical activity will pause for a period of one week (w/c 16 Jun).

"We’ve worked hard to ensure a lower level of activity disruption than when we exited the Eye Pavilion last year." And it added that emergency services would be maintained throughout the 6-week phased reopening.

The Eye Pavilion which dates back to 1969, was declared unfit for purpose in 2014 and is due to be replaced by a new eye hospital close to the Royal Infirmary at Little France.By after being approved, cancelled, reinstated, put on ice and then given the go-ahead, the new hospital is not due to be ready until 2031.

Ms Boyack said: “I am glad that patients now have certainty of when the current facility will be back in operation, but the closure illustrates just how desperately we need a new hospital.

“The reopening of the eye hospital will not solve its fundamental issues. Patients deserve better than an outdated facility that’s not fit for purpose.

“I am glad patients will no longer have to travel for routine appointments, but we need to now secure them long term stability by providing a brand new eye pavilion as quickly as possible”.