A special intensive care room has been set aside at a Glasgow hospital in case Donald Trump’s life is in danger when he visits Scotland.
The US President, 72, will be flying into the west of Scotland for his visit next week and a huge security and contingency operation is being set up in preparation.
It is understood a room in the ICU at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital has been identified and set aside in the event of, for example, an assassination attempt.
Mr Trump is visiting the UK and will come to Scotland on Friday, after meeting the Queen, and stay until Sunday.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said it would not be leaving an intensive care room empty, should a patient require it, but it said a specific room may have been identified as the most suitable to accommodate the President, should it be needed.
It is also understood a room has been identified, adjacent to the relatives’ room, which would be used to accommodate the President’s security team should he need to use the ICU.
A spokeswoman said: “We are not sitting with an empty room waiting if he takes unwell and needs intensive care.
“It may be that as part of an arrangement we would say we would put it in that room.”
She said arrangements were similar to that for any visiting dignitary.
The health board said if intensive care capacity is needed for a patient, it will be used and contingency plans would then need to be revisited.
The spokeswoman added: “If needed [by a patient] it will be used.”
A multi-disciplinary team involving the Scottish Government is visiting the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Royal Infirmary on Monday to check arrangements ahead of the Trump visit.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “President Trump is coming to the UK at the invitation of the UK Government.
“However, the Scottish Government has been planning for some time with key partners, including Police Scotland, for the possibility of the President’s itinerary including a visit to Scotland.
“Scotland has deep and longstanding ties of family, friendship and business with the United States, which will continue to endure. At the same time, we will not compromise our fundamental values of equality, diversity, and human rights and we expect these values to be made clear during the Presidential visit to the UK.
“We would encourage those attending any protests to do so peacefully and safely.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel