The Scottish Government has announced that the development timeline of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP) has been moved with the project to be fully open in autumn 2020. It is estimated that the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN) will move in spring 2020, and the rest of the Children’s Hospital will migrate to the new site in autumn next year.

The decision follows the findings of two reports commissioned by the Health Secretary in July to ensure patient safety across the site.

An independent review of the governance arrangements for RHCYP by KPMG has found that the main issue with ventilation in critical care stemmed from an error in a document produced by NHS Lothian at the tender stage in 2012. This was despite the requirement to also adhere to relevant technical guidance.

The KPMG report attributes this to human error and confusion over the interpretation of standards and guidance. It also concludes that opportunities to spot and rectify that error were missed.

The NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is set to undertake a detailed assessment of compliance of all building systems which could have an impact on patients and staff at the new site.

This has identified a range of issues which need to be resolved prior to occupation of the building, including ventilation and water systems. The NSS report makes a number of recommendations which NHS Lothian have accepted and the Scottish Government will publish an action plan from the board along with both reports.

Due to the scale of the challenge relating to the delivery of the new hospital, NHS Lothian has been escalated to level 4 in the NHS Board Performance Framework for this specific issue. The Scottish Government will put in place a Senior Programme Director who will take responsibility for the day to day delivery of the RHCYP from now until the site is fully occupied. 

As announced in Programme for Government, a new national body will also be created. This will have oversight for the design, planning, construction and maintenance of major NHS Scotland infrastructure developments.