– in the Scottish Parliament at on 11 January 2018.
This month, the children’s ward at St John’s hospital will have been closed to in-patients out of hours for more than 200 days. When will it reopen as a 24/7 service?
It will reopen as soon as possible. It is, of course, a matter of regret that the situation—which is to ensure safety for patients—has arisen. Patient safety is vitally important for all patients but all of us would accept that it is particularly important for children.
As soon as the recruitment challenges have been addressed—efforts are under way right now to recruit into that ward—the ward will reopen.
Neil Findlay previously used to say that our plan was to close the ward permanently. That was not the case. We are determined to make sure that the ward remains open to serve patients in West Lothian, and I look forward to it being open properly as soon as possible.