Land stalemate puts new Sick Kids on brink

Published on Friday 29 July 2011 12:49

A WRANGLE over land has thrown the plans to build a new Sick Kids hospital next to the ERI into doubt, it emerged today.

&#149 The new Sick Kids hinges on the NHS reaching a deal over land with ERI owner Consort

The Evening News can reveal that the official projected completion date has slipped back again to late 2016 at the earliest - meaning it is now four years behind schedule.

But a senior health board source today said there was "zero chance" of it being open by then and said there were real fears it may not be built at all, renewing concerns about more specialist paediatric services being centralised in Glasgow instead.

The latest setback has come as a result of a stalemate between NHS Lothian and Consort, the private firm that built and runs the ERI at Little France and crucially owns the land on which the new 250 million Sick Kids would be built.

The Scottish Government has told NHS Lothian that it will not pay for the new hospital and that the health board must go through the Scottish Future Trust (SFT) to raise private money for the project. However, the SFT will not give the green light until the board acquires the land, leaving Consort effectively able to hold the project to ransom.

There are fears that unless a way can be found around the deadlock then the new Sick Kids project will be left in limbo, raising the risk of facilities in Edinburgh being downgraded in favour of improving services at Glasgow's publicly funded new children's hospital, due to open in 2015.

Our source said: "There is a real risk that these services - all or part of them - could go to Glasgow.

"It's a very complex picture and the chances of it being open in 2016 are zero.

"The problem surrounds the land - the SFT are saying that has to be done before the business case can be put forward.

"Consort hold all the cards, and they want to maximise all their aces. They won't do that just by selling the land.

"The concern is we are seeing this hospital slip further and further away."

The key for the future of the Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh is a new paediatric brain unit, or department of clinical neurosciences (DCN).

Without that, the new Sick Kids would not be able to keep running an intensive care unit.

"Glasgow will have its new brain unit before us," the source added. "That means all the surgeons will want to go there, and if it hasn't happened in the Lothians, the Scottish Government could turn around and say the safety of patients means there has to be one specialised unit in Glasgow.

"It suits them for this not to happen, because they can just blame the Tories and Labour on PFI deals signed years ago."

Another senior source within the health board said plans for the new Sick Kids were being pressed ahead with because there was little other choice, but added it had long been known that the Scottish Government does not think there is a need for two "all singing, all dancing" children's hospitals.

He added: "Planning is taking place, but how it's paid for is anyone's guess.

"There has always been a question whether Edinburgh Sick Kids is viable or should it be a satellite to Glasgow's hub."

NHS Lothian and Consort say negotiations over both the new Sick Kids and the brain unit are continuing and insist they are committed to the project.

The health board needs to acquire "car park B" near the ERI's A&E department from Consort before it submits an outline business case for the new hospital, which ministers have requested by December.

However, relations between the two sides are said to be poor, with sources suggesting it could take the entire buy-out of the Little France contract - worth 1.26 billion - from Consort to make it happen.

Consort own the land for the next 105 years and is known to have ambitions to land the contract to build the new Sick Kids itself. Building anywhere other than Little France would not be an option, because modern clinical standards insist new paediatric hospitals are built beside maternity units and adult specialisms, both based at the ERI.

Unison - which represents thousands of local health workers - today called for a public inquiry to examine the whole issue of the PFI contract and its impact on plans for the new Sick Kids. It also wants Holyrood to intervene in an effort to put pressure on Consort if a deal is not struck soon.

Its Lothian branch chairman Tom Waterson said: "This is a problem that started out when the original PFI deal was signed.

"There should be a public inquiry into this, and the Scottish Government should step in and say to Consort if they are going to be obstructive with this, they won't win any more public contracts in Scotland.

"The Royal Infirmary was designed, from a construction point of view, so that extensions could easily be made.

"But there is no flexibility in the contract, and Consort don't have to do anything."

An outline planning application is due to be submitted next week as NHS Lothian attempts to keep the wheels moving, but the land issue needs to be resolved before the plans can be put into action.

An SFT spokeswoman would only say that it was supporting NHS Lothian in both the new Sick Kids and DCN project, while a Scottish Government spokeswoman insisted the project was "going ahead as planned".

A Consort spokeswoman said it was "strategically committed to NHS Lothian's development of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children".

She added: "Discussions are continuing between Consort and NHS Lothian about the land in question. We hope that we will be able to conclude these discussions successfully in the near future."

Jackie Sansbury, NHS Lothian's chief operating officer, said: "Negotiations with Consort, our private partner for the ERI, are ongoing. As a result of the revised procurement route and the design process to develop a combined building, the projected date of opening is now autumn 2016. An application for planning permission in principle will be made within the next week, which is a significant step in this important project."

With best will in the world, old friend is just not up to scratch

OPENED 150 years ago, the Sick Kids hospital in Sciennes is a respected and much-loved facility but now increasingly unfit for purpose.

Often praised for its friendly atmosphere and leafy location, it is a building that makes the best of some tragic situations.

However, from a modern healthcare point of view, it has long been acknowledged that its ageing structure and restrictive design is unsuitable for NHS Lothian's aim for a world-class facility.

Maintenance bills are soaring, and the old network of corridors does not lend itself to a modern, fast-moving set-up.

Expansion is impossible, and internal adjustments hugely expensive.

Parking there has long been a problem, and although it is praised for its hygiene levels, bosses would have more success cracking down on infections in a new hospital.

Modern requirements also dictate that children's health services should border a maternity unit and adult specialism, neither of which happen at Sciennes.

GOOD INTENTIONS ON ROAD TO PERDITION

September 2008: Scottish Government approves NHS Lothian's outline business case for a paediatric hospital at Little France, and pledges an initial 50 million. Bosses express delight that they won't have to go down the private financing route, adding the hospital would probably be open by late 2012.

February 2010: The year-old New Pyjamas appeal collapses after it emerged it has barely raised a penny of the 15m it targeted for equipment and facilities.

March 2010: Problems begin to surface at the hospital after Holyrood said it would not stump up the 48m needed to build a brain unit at the hospital - a key element of the new Sick Kids.

October 2010: The first delay is confirmed, with the opening date now estimated at the summer of 2014.

November 2010: Scottish Government rules out public money for the project, and instead tells NHS Lothian to link-up with the Scottish Futures Trust to finance the 250m hospital privately. That decision pushes the opening date back to 2015.

December 2010: NHS Lothian is warned that a private deal to build the Sick Kids could be as catastrophic as the PFI deal to construct the Royal Infirmary, which will ultimately cost the health board 1.26 billion.

May 2011: It is warned that if the Sick Kids is not built by 2015, the Lothians may lose its brain surgery unit altogether.

June 2011: NHS Lothian reveals new plans for the Sick Kids, which would see it increase in size by a quarter.

July 2011: Unions say they fear the hospital won't be built, with all services moving to Glasgow. Experts predict under the SFT deal NHS Lothian would pay 900m for a hospital worth 250m.

August 2011: Health chiefs confess to fears over the project after it emerges there is no chance of the hospital opening before 2016.