Royal Edinburgh hospital set for move to Little France site

Published on Friday 30 January 2009 09:00

THE Royal Edinburgh Hospital would move to Little France under plans being considered by health chiefs. The move would see the main adult psychiatric services and alcohol treatment drop-in unit moving to a site near the ERI.

The Orchard Clinic secure unit and services for older people, however, are likely to remain at the Morningside site.

The proposed move – which is still at the early planning stage – would allow the health board to sell a large part of the existing Royal Edinburgh hospital site once the property market picks up.

Little France has emerged as the favoured option for the hospital's new main base after health chiefs considered other potential sites.

The site close to facilities at the ERI has been judged more suitable than the Western General and St John's Hospital in Livingston.

NHS Lothian is keen to move out of the ageing Morningside building, parts of which are barely fit for purpose.

It is understood the 50-bed Orchard Clinic is unlikely to be moved following the red tape and objections health chiefs had to overcome to establish it there.

Privately, bosses also believe the community of Morningside has built up good relations with the mental health services, dating back to when Craighouse used to be an asylum a century ago.

Some senior figures within NHS Lothian want to create a hospital "village" at Craigleith, however that now seems unlikely.

NHS Lothian's director of strategic planning Jackie Sansbury stressed the move was at an early stage. She said: "We are reviewing the whole mental health strategy.

"There is more work to do on this. The points scoring (of the different sites) was done speciality by speciality and there is the possibility of splitting the site."

A public consultation is expected to take place before any final decision is taken, probably several years from now.