£11.5m for doomed hospitals

HEALTH chiefs are set to spend £11.5 million refurbishing two hospitals that face being demolished in a few years.

Plans to move both the Royal Edinburgh and Royal Victoria are currently facing delays.

NHS Lothian had hoped to move the Royal Victoria to the Western General site by August 2010. However, the site it had earmarked is no longer suitable because of changes to the law requiring more single rooms, and effectively means more space is required if the hospital is not to lose its 247-bed capacity.

Similarly, health chiefs have bclassed a scheme to replace the crumbling Royal Edinburgh Hospital, in Morningside Place, which provides psychiatric and mental health services, with a facility near the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, as "likely to be delayed".

NHS Lothian was unable to say how much of the refurbishment bill – £8m for the Royal Edinburgh, £3.5m for the Royal Victoria in Craigleith Road – was due to hold ups, adding it does not know at this stage how great the delays are likely to be.

However, a patients' representative described the work as "a gross waste of money".

John Jack, director of facilities at NHS Lothian, said: "As a functioning hospital and as part of our commitment to provide the best possible patient services, the Royal Victoria requires investment to maintain a satisfactory environment for patients and staff. The refurbishment which is planned to take place over the next three to four years will include maintaining the infrastructure, energy and environmental improvements and developments such as ward refurbishment.

"Statutory guidelines requiring 100 per cent single rooms have made it necessary to re-visit the original plans. We are currently reviewing the estimated completion date with a view to delivering as closely as possible to the original estimated date."

Unison, the public services union, welcomed the refurbishment of the two buildings.

Tom Waterson, chairman of public sector union Unison's Scottish Health Committee, said: "I'm aware that maintenance work is urgently required at both sites.

"The Royal Edinburgh building is old and dilapidated and really not fit for purpose. I didn't realise that much was going to be spent but, to be honest, the figure does not surprise me.

"The new Royal Victoria is still five, six or even seven years off, and that's too long to wait for patients who are there at the moment."

He added: "The delay in moving the Royal Victoria is to ensure we do not lose beds. If that means there has to be a delay then so be it. I don't blame NHS Lothian."

But Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "To spend this amount on hospitals which are eventually going to close is a gross waste of money," she said.

"It could have been used in other ways – we've got cancer patients who are having to pay for their own drugs.

"We need more doctors, we need more nurses, why are we not using this money for that? Why are we putting it into buildings that are past it."