Staff at the new children’s hospital have been left shocked and angry at the continuing problems plaguing the site, union leaders have said.
Tom Waterson, chairman of Unison’s Scottish health committee, said there was “a lot of anger” over the issue.
He said: “People are asking, quite rightly so, why are we not receiving compensation from the construction company? Why are we giving them more money? And I completely agree with that.”
READ MORE: Drainage problems flagged as serious in NHS Lothian board papers from nearly a year ago
Mr Waterson said he had been told problems with the ventilation system in the hospital’s critical care unit could take between six and nine months to fix.
He said: “We want the hospital open as soon as possible – but it needs to be safe. I’m a parent of two young children. My daughter used the Sick Kids last year when she was ill.
“I want to ensure everyone’s children are safe when this new hospital opens. We can’t risk it opening and then failing.”
Ros Shaw, senior officer with the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland, said reports about further problems with the new building are “concerning”.
She said: “Patient safety remains the top priority, so the decision to delay the move until patient safety can be assured is still the correct one.
READ MORE: Trade unionist says new Edinburgh sick kids' hospital 'may have to be ripped down'
“It was extremely disappointing that these concerns were not picked up much earlier and that the decision to delay the move was taken at such a late stage.
“Staff have expressed frustration at the lack of information on the next steps and the impact the delay could have on patient care but they also want reassurance that the new facility will be safe.”
Rachel Baxter, of the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “ECHC understands that there are a number of independent reviews and investigations under way to verify that the new [hospital] meets the appropriate standards before it becomes operational.
“Ensuring patient safety remains a first priority.”
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 here