An under-fire health board has finally admitted using two temporary units to treat patients.
Last month the Record contacted every board in Scotland to ask how many were using makeshift buildings to carry out procedures at overcrowded .
We revealed an overspill A&E was being set up in the grounds of Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and an operating theatre was planned at NHS Lanarkshire’s Hairmyres Hospital.
We also found a mobile eye unit at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank and two temporary buildings at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness – one for orthopaedics and another for gynaecology and breast surgery.
In addition, a temporary unit is used as an endoscopy suite at St John’s Livingston, there are two mobile MRI units at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) and Woodend Hospital, and ARI also has a mobile cath lab which has diagnostic imaging equipment.
NHS Tayside said it would not provide the information – unless a request went through their freedom of information team.
More than three weeks after we made a request, and a fortnight after our findings were published, the board finally admitted using two units – bringing the total across Scotland to nine.
A mobile surgical theatre is used at Stracathro Hospital in Brechin while a catheterisation lab on the Ninewells Hospital site has been there since 2018.
Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “The reliance on temporary buildings to deliver healthcare should not be welcomed or celebrated.
“Car park cabins procured from private firms are attractive to cash-strapped health boards but are not a
long-term solution.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “It’s not at all unusual for health boards and trusts around the UK to utilise mobile theatre units to provide additional capacity in the short term, while ensuring these meet all the required health and safety standards.”
