The opening of Edinburgh’s new children’s hospital was delayed by 20 months because of the installation of ‘defective’ ventilation systems in a critical-care department, an official inquiry has found.
In July 2019, just five days before the facility was due to open its doors, the then Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Health, Jeane Freeman, announced that the opening of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People would be postponed.
Following remedial works, the hospital – which also houses a new department of clinical neuroscience – only fully opened in March 2021, with the delay estimated to have cost £16.8m.
Freeman’s decision to postpone the hospital’s opening was triggered by the discovery that features of the hospital’s ventilation system did not comply with national Scottish guidance on ventilation for healthcare premises.
The project subcontractor that designed and installed the ventilation system believed it was complying with legal requirements, but was not, the inquiry found.
The inquiry said engineers and contractors should not be expected to have the necessary understanding of a hospital’s clinical requirements to be able to identify appropriate output specifications. It said it should be specified as part of the NHS brief.
