An alarming report has revealed a health board and the Scottish Government knew there were problems at the new Edinburgh Sick Kids hospital 15 months ago.
An Audit Scotland document says an extra £11.6million payment to contractors was approved to help fix problems with “drainage solution, heater batteries and void fire detectors”.
In the report published yesterday, the commission said the money for the new Royal Hospital for Children is in addition to the £150million construction cost and £800million of enabling and equipment works outwith the agreement with contractor IHS Lothian.
The extra costs mean the lifetime price tag of the new hospital could be more than £520million.
While the ventilation issues emerged after the report was complete, there were other problems at the hospital dating back many months.
The report says: “The project has faced a number of challenges and delays, with construction issues impairing the original project plan and timetable. These have since been resolved and the facility was handed over to NHS Lothian in February.
“NHS Lothian identified issues it believed were not compliant with the original contractual requirements and raised concerns over what it felt would be a significant adverse impact on patients, staff and visitors.”
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman halted the transfer of patients after final checks revealed the critical care department’s ventilation system did not meet national standards.
She says NHS National Services Scotland are working to “give quality assurance on the water, ventilation and drainage systems and establish a timeframe for services to move safely to the new hospital”.
Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the Audit Scotland report “leaves more questions than answers”.
The Scottish Government said: “The results of this review will be considered as part of the independent audit of the overall governance arrangements for the new hospital.”
