Portakabin hospital unit faces further delay following safety review

Health chiefs have admitted they still don’t know when the delayed new hospital unit, made up of buildings supplied by Portakabin, will open.

The 30-bed ward at the Royal Forth Valley Hospital for patients undergoing knee and hip surgery was largely completed last year.

However, a safety audit revealed problems with ventilation, fire safety and flooding, and the project was stopped.

The technical solution to these problems is yet to be confirmed and NHS Forth Valley said it could not say when the unit would open until it did.

The unit was originally due to open at Larbert Hospital in 2022 as part of the new National Treatment Center (NTC), which aims to increase surgical capacity.

But work did not begin until 2022, and the project has faced further delays.

Last year, construction watchdog NHS Assure said it could not support the ward design without changes.

Inspectors found two significant and 19 major problems with the project, including a lack of detail in the fire strategy, failure to comply with some NHS guidelines and a lack of detail about pre-occupancy checks.

NHS Assure, set up to monitor the quality, safety and delivery of the health authority’s construction projects, concluded that if the problems were not addressed they could “potentially jeopardize the safety of patients and staff”.

Without a satisfactory NHS Assure inspection, new healthcare facilities are not permitted to open to the public.

Two additional operating theaters and an MRI scanner to increase surgical and diagnostic capabilities have been installed at Forth Valley Royal Hospital as part of an NTC project and are already operational.

A spokeswoman for NHS Forth Valley said: “Work has been taking place over the past few months with the contractor and NHS Assure to resolve the remaining outstanding technical issues relating to piping and fire safety regulations.

“A potential solution has been submitted to Building Management for review and we are currently awaiting feedback.

“Once the solution has been approved and agreed upon by all parties, a detailed work plan will be developed to implement the necessary changes, as well as a timetable for completion of this work.”

NHS Forth Valley said the capital costs of the project remained within the original budget estimates of around £10 million.