NHS bosses left red-faced by spelling blunder at hospital entrance

Published on Thursday 30 April 2009 09:41

HEALTH chiefs have been left red-faced after a rather obvious spelling error on a new sign at a city hospital.

The brand new sign which faces out on to St John's Road tells visitors they have arrived at "Cosrstorphine" Hospital when of course it should read "Corstorphine".

After being alerted to the error, NHS Lothian has pledged to replace the offending sign as soon as possible.

Kenny Kerr, 62, treasurer of Corstorphine Community Council, however, said the mistake should never have been made.

He said: "The NHS have got to get these things right. The people who are doing the signs should be checking and double checking that everything is correct.

"If they can't even get the name right then I would be worried about going in to the hospital."

He added: "It's not like the mistake is on a wee notice on a door in a building, it is there in prominence for people going by to look at.

"It's so ridiculous that they can't even spell the name of the village right – how can they get these things so stupidly wrong?"

A 33-year-old Corstorphine resident alerted the Evening News to the blunder and said the sign had been erected over a fortnight ago.

Lib Dem councillor for Corstorphine and Murrayfield, Paul Edie, said he would like to see the sign – which also features the NHS logo – corrected as soon as possible.

"It is a bit embarrassing for the NHS but I'm not in a position to point the finger because I'm a terrible, terrible speller," he said. "I would like to see the sign corrected – if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing correctly."

Director of facilities at NHS Lothian, John Jack, said: "We are extremely grateful to the person who noticed the incorrect spelling on the sign.

"This is an unfortunate error and we have already put in place plans to rectify this."