Bid to improve healthcare construction projects

A NEW service within the Scottish NHS has been set up to improve quality and management within major construction projects in the healthcare sector.

NHS Scotland Assure will make sure newly built or refurbished buildings are designed with infection control standards in mind.

Commissioned by the Scottish Government and established by NHS National Services Scotland, the new service will bring in expertise from microbiologists, architects, planners and engineers.

The government says it will improve patient safety and ensure cohesion between healthcare and construction teams.

It comes after lengthy delays to the opening of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh, caused by the building’s ventilation system initially failing to meet infection control standards.

The new Sick Kids hospital eventually opened in March this year.

A report released last week also said there were “significant failings” around infection prevention and control at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “NHS Scotland Assure will support a culture of collaboration and transparency to provide the reassurance patients and their families deserve to feel safe in our hospitals.”

Meanwhile, Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie has welcomed the move but said it is ‘extraordinary’ that it took two scandals for the service to be set up.

She said: “Any effort to improve the construction of hospitals and patient safety is to be welcomed, but it is extraordinary that it took scandals at two crucial hospitals for it to be considered.”