Health chiefs prescribe a new hospital

A NEW hospital for elderly people on the Western General Hospital site has been given the go-ahead by health chiefs.

However, the new facility is now not expected to open until 2012 – two years after the original date.

NHS Lothian has approved of the outline business case for a replacement for the Royal Victoria and will seek planning permission from the city council.

The new facility will provide medical in-patient and out-patient services, as well as a day hospital.

It will also include a high percentage of single rooms for patients, seen as a key element in preventing the spread of superbugs and, in particular, Clostridium Difficile, which recently claimed the lives of eight elderly people at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire.

Jackie Sansbury, director of strategic planning and modernisation at NHS Lothian, said: "Our final plans will mean a brand new state-of-the-art hospital building.

"Approximately 200 beds will be re-provided as part of the Royal Victoria hospital. This includes both medicine and psychiatry of old age. Bed numbers have been reduced due to investments in community health services for ongoing rehabilitation."