Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government Resilience Committee has considered NHS resource issues at every meeting. NHS Lothian is reporting that it is coping with the current pressures. Should the position change then the Scottish Government would ensure the required resources were available.

Additional specialist public health resources have already been provided to NHS Lothian from other boards, on a mutual aid basis.

The City of Edinburgh Environmental Health team and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), working as part of the Incident Management Team (IMT), are actively investigating the source of the current outbreak.

It is standard procedure in all public health incidents and outbreaks such as this for a report to be produced at the end of outbreak by the lead NHS Board Incident Management Team. This is set out in guidance published in October 2011 Management of Public Health Incidents: Guidance on the Roles and Responsibilities of NHS led Incident Management Teams. This report, including its lessons learned, will inform handling of future public health incidents.

NHS Lothian is receiving support and advice directly from Scottish Government officials and the Scottish Futures Trust to bring the current contractual issues to conclusion and allow the project to proceed.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to the delivery of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children on the Little France site. This will fulfil the ambition to have specialist children’s services located on sites which also support maternity and adult services.

A change in funding route for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) project was announced as part of the Draft Budget for 2011-12 on 17 November 2010. Given the real terms reduction of 32% of Capital DEL (Departmental Expenditure Limit) over the CSR (Comprehensive Spending Review) period, ministers agreed to maintain capital investment via a pipeline of revenue financed investment of £2.5 billion, of which £750 million related to health projects, either as stand-alone Non Profit Distributing (NPD) projects or via the hub initiative.

The announcement made on 17 November 2010 brought together the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN). This reinstates the board’s preferred strategic option and allows the generation of a number of physical and operational synergies that otherwise would not have been possible. Until that decision was taken it was not clear how and when the DCN project could be delivered.

None. The Scottish Government remains fully committed to the delivery of the project on the Little France site.

The £842 million Adult and Children's Hospitals commenced on site in late March 2011 and the full development is planned to be operational/in service by the end of June 2015.

The current Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow provides a number of national designated services for the whole of Scotland. As with other health boards NHS Lothian refers patients who require these services to Glasgow. This is expected to continue when the new South Glasgow Hospitals Campus opens.

NHS Lothian is receiving support and advice directly from Scottish Government officials and the Scottish Futures Trust in the development of the project. The Scottish Futures Trust has had direct discussions with NHS Lothian and Consort in order to assist in resolving outstanding issues.