A hotel in Edinburgh's Old Town has been given the green-light to welcome 100 surgical students two weeks before hospitality formally restarts.
The Ten Hill Place Hotel was granted permission to host those sitting a variety of upcoming exams from Monday. The facility, which is owned by the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSEd) had to demonstrate a series of stringent protocols are in place to senior health figures.
At the start of the pandemic the hotel hosted and catered for more than 500 clinical and frontline workers free of charge, and bosses believe this latest move will help reassure guests ahead of the formal reopening of the sector on April 26.
Scott Mitchell, Managing Director at Surgeons Quarter, said: “First we had one of the top health officials in the country verify our procedures to enable us to host the next wave of surgical talent.
“Now we will have 100 unwavering critics ensuring that every aspect of their stay is as safe as possible, without losing that feeling of warm Scottish hospitality.
“What this means, we sincerely hope, is that come April 26 onwards those wishing to visit Edinburgh will see that our team and hotel is ideally placed to ensure they can enjoy a safe and stress-free break.”
While also following official advice, measures include the use of QR codes for collecting diners’ contact details, hand sanitiser stations around the hotel, and an innovative key card oven for hands-free cleaning. The sanitising oven uses ultraviolet technology to stop the risk of cross contamination from key cards being passed to different guests.
Behind the scenes, Ten Hill Place has undertaken risk assessments of all areas, and all staff have undergone rigorous training.
Scott added: “We are uniquely placed here at Surgeons Quarter that we have access to the experience of the membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
“We can draw on clinical and medical input to enhance everything that we are doing in these times.
"Of course, we follow all Government advice and industry protocols but we further benefit from the experience of surgeons, clinicians and dentists. If they feel we are doing everything we can, I see this as a great endorsement for all guests to feel comfortable within Ten Hill Place”.
Ten Hill Place remained open from March to May 2020 in order to provide 2,137 free nights of accommodation and thousands of meals to frontline NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic – at a cost of more than £100,000 to the charitable organisation.
