A public inquiry into delays to the opening of Edinburgh’s Sick Kids’ Hospital “must deliver answers”, politicians demanded yesterday.
The inquiry, which begins next week, will look at faults relating to ventilation, drainage and building systems.
Systemic issues at the mothballed facility could ultimately cost Scottish taxpayers about £520million over the next 25 years.
The Scottish Government’s flagship Royal Hospital for Children and Young People should have opened in July last year.
But shortly before patients were due to be transferred from Edinburgh’s old Sick Kids’ Hospital, a fault in the air conditioning was found.
Final checks revealed the critical care department’s ventilation system did not meet national standards and it later emerged the drainage system at the site also needed fixed.
The NHS Lothian hospital in Edinburgh’s Little France was originally mean to cost about £150million.
While the “ghost hospital” was sitting idle, taxpayers continued to shell out millions for day-to-day costs including electricity, gas, water, waste management, training, equipment and annual service payments.
The public inquiry – which will also analyse problems at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, which was built by the same construction firm – is due to begin next week.
Work on the final stages of the construction project continues and once completed, the second phase of moving children’s services take place.
Daniel Johnson, Labour MSP for Edinburgh Southern, said: “The indefinite delay which has now dragged on for a year is completely unacceptable.
“The Sick Kids is an urgently-required replacement for a vital service for children in the capital and beyond.
“At a time when the NHS is facing unprecedented pressures, it’s a scandal that this mothballed hospital is costing the health service millions of pounds.
“We need to know how much this has cost and when it will open to the public.
“The public inquiry must be robust and deliver the answers that taxpayers and patients deserve.”
Ian Murray, Labour MP for Edinburgh South and Shadow Scottish Secretary, added: “The problems with the Sick Kids in Edinburgh and the QEUH in Glasgow are a national scandal. This long-awaited public inquiry must get to the bottom of what went so catastrophically wrong.
“Parents in Edinburgh whose children still can’t use the new hospital deserve answers. Parents in Glasgow who have suffered unimaginable tragedy deserve answers. And the entire country deserves answers.
“The start of this public inquiry should serve as a stark reminder to the Scottish Government to have a laser-like focus on improving public services, not obsessing about constitutional division.”
