HEALTH Secretary Jeane Freeman will be grilled MSPs about ventilation problems at two major new hospitals.

Ms Freeman has been asked to give evidence to the Health and Sport Committee in November the ongoing 'Health Hazards' investigation into the design, build and maintenance of the £842 million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where two cancer patients contracted a infection linked to pigeon droppings. Their deaths are being investigated by the Crown Office.

A number of paediatric and adult cancer wards have also closed in the past year due to a string of other infections.

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MSPs also want to quiz her on the blunders that have delayed the opening of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

The facility is not expected to be fully operational until autumn 2020, more than three years late, pending the completion of remedial works set to cost taxpayers an estimated £16 million.

A public inquiry is due to take place into design problems at both hospitals after it emerged that the QEUH opened in 2015 with ventilation which did not meet building standards.

The RHCYP was due to open in July this year, but a last-minute inspection discovered that the ventilation in critical care did not meet requirements in relation to the number of air changes needed per hour to minimise infection risk for the sickest patients.

Risks in relation to theatre ventilation, drainage and bacterial contamination in taps was also identified.

READ MORE: Jeane Freeman announces public inquiries into QEUH and Edinburgh children's hospital 

Lewis Macdonald, Labour MSP and convener of the Health and Sport Committee, has written to Ms Freeman asking her to appear on November 19.

Ms Freeman said it came after she wrote to the committee offering to attend at a time of their choosing. 

Mr Macdonald said MSPs also want an an update arrangements for the disposal of potentially hazardous medical waste following the collapse of the Lanarkshire firm which had previously held the NHS contract.

NHS Scotland has spent nearly £15m sending medical waste to alternative firms since the collapse of Healthcare Environmental Services in December 2018.

HES had been heavily criticised for "stockpiling" body parts and other waste, but the Spanish-firm Tradebe who is due to take over on a £10m-a-year ten-year contract has faced delays in getting its facility in Lanarkshire up and running. It is expected to be operation from October.

Mr Macdonald said: "It would be helpful, if as part of the above, you could provide further detail as to how the ventilation difficulties [at RHCYP] came to light and how that links to the work of the ‘Health Hazards Inquiry’ looking into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

"Perhaps also on the 19th you would update the Committee on progress to finally resolve issues around the disposal of hospital waste.

"The Committee are interested in how these three issues are connected and will also welcome further detail, including timescales, for the establishment of the new national body announced in the programme for government and the public inquiry that the Government has committed to."

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Mr Macdonald has also written to the Auditor General of Audit Scotland asking if they are planning to investigate financial issues arising from the delayed opening to the RHCYP.

A spokesman for Audit Scotland confirmed that it would carry out a Section 22 report into the new children's hospital, which it expects to lay in Parliament by end of November.

A Section 22 is done where specific concerns have been raised around the use of public funds.

An Audit Scotland spokesman said: “The Auditor General will be looking at this issue and her report will be based on the annual audit of NHS Lothian and the reviews carried out by KPMG and NHS National Services Scotland.”

Construction costs on the hospital were £150m plus £80m of enabling works paid for by NHS Lothian. However, the health board also paid £11.6m earlier this year to the IHSL Ltd, the private consortium which built the facility, in order to fix a number of issues relating to drainage, heater batteries and void fire detectors.

NHS Lothian insisted that the faults were "materially non-compliant with the original specifications", but was advised that it would be too risky to sue.

Although the hospital remains empty, NHS Lothian is also paying £1.45m a month in maintenance and management fees to IHSL Ltd under the terms of its PFI-style Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) contract.