NHS Lothian to open one part of new hospital next month

News has come out today from NHS Lothian that work on the new Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Little France is now complete.

Services will begin moving there from 11 May 2020, subject to final commissioning and discussion with removal companies and suppliers. 

A phased move will include moving Outpatient Services, including Neurophysiology and Diagnostic Radiology, along with a number of administrative support staff. The Department will house state of the art facilities for diagnostics and studies of the brain.  

NHS Lothian say the plan has been agreed with the full involvement of clinical teams and includes a commitment to revisit the timescale for the move of Inpatient Services and Interventional Neuroradiology.

There was a break in work to allow DCN critical care teams to support the Covid-19 response at the Western General Hospital.  

Susan Goldsmith, NHS Lothian Director of Finance and Executive Lead for the project said, “This represents a major milestone in the work programme and has been achieved thanks to the tremendous hard work of our project team and the contractors on site, Imtech and Bouygues Construction, following their appointment by our contractor, IHSL, last autumn. I’d like to thank them and our staff at DCN for their positive engagement with this process.” 

Ms Goldsmith added “It remains our aim to move Children’s Services to the adjacent Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in the autumn, however it is not yet clear if the COVID-19 emergency will impact on this timescale. We are conscious that there may be supply chain issues or that the pace of work may be affected by the need for contractors on site to observe safe social distancing measures. Nonetheless work is on track and we continue to work towards the autumn timeline.”