National Health Service Construction Projects

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 18 September 2019.

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Photo of Jeane Freeman Jeane Freeman Scottish National Party

It would not be sensible or possible for me to answer that question at this point.

I completely understand the need that the member has, which I also have, to hear what the inquiry has to say and what it finds, but it will be an independent inquiry on a statutory basis, and whoever chairs and leads it must have a key role in determining the full scope that it will have and how it will go about its work.

I expect the current independent review at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital and the reports from KPMG and NHS NSS that I published last week to provide important information to the inquiry, and its conclusions and recommendations will further inform the work of the new national body that we are moving to set up.

The new national body will have responsibility for oversight of the design, construction and maintenance of major infrastructure developments in NHS Scotland, ensuring the embedding of a focus on patient safety and a clear understanding of the interrelationship between building design and effective infection prevention and control.

My focus is threefold—to ensure that all the necessary steps are taken to ensure the safe delivery of the new hospital in Lothian and of care at the Queen Elizabeth campus; to establish a new body to oversee our coming infrastructure build, applying best practice in every aspect; and to provide the necessary independent assurance to patients, families and the public through the work of the statutory public inquiry.

I urge members to support my amendment. I move amendment S5M-18902.3, to leave out from “is deeply concerned” to “, and asks for” and insert:

“believes that patient safety should be the primary consideration in NHS construction projects; is deeply concerned with the ongoing problems which have led to the delay of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP) in Edinburgh and the concerns expressed in relation to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow; notes the recent KPMG and NSS reports, which have identified the root of shortcomings in ventilation systems in key areas of the new RHCYP and identified a number of other areas to be rectified before the site opens; believes that, following concerns from affected parents, it would be the right step to increase confidence by establishing a public inquiry, under the Inquiries Act 2005 into the new RHCYP and the QEUH site to determine how vital issues relating to ventilation and other matters occurred, how mistakes were made and what steps can be taken to prevent them being repeated in future projects; further believes that the ongoing QEUH Independent Review, and the recent KPMG and NSS reports, will help inform the Inquiry; considers that ministers should update Parliament in the event that there are any significant delays to ongoing NHS projects; understands that construction inflation has been driven significantly in recent times by Brexit and its impact on sterling and on the attractiveness to potential skilled workers to come from the EU to work in Scotland; and welcomes that”.