Scottish Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Health to request he set out the risk associated of the current panelling on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Concerns over the panelling within the hospital's atrium were raised to NHS bosses earlier this year, following suggestions that the sheeting could aid the rapid spread fire.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde this week confirmed that work on replacing the current panelling was expected to commence on 28th November, but is not anticipated to conclude until 2027, and is set to cost £33milluon.
This is despite the Scottish Fire and Rescue service urging that the material should be removed as soon as reasonably practical and replaced with wall lining materials that reduce fire risk.
Glasgow Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said:
“My Glasgow constituents will be rightly astonished and angry that £33million of taxpayer's money is now having to be spent on something that should never have been necessary in the first place.
“This is yet another example of the Scottish Government letting down our NHS, hampering its ability to give patients the best standards of care, in a safe and secure environment.
“The long list of problems with this hospital in particular make clear the severity of the damage fifteen years of SNP mismanagement has done to our health service.
“The fire brigade has set out its view that the current panelling must be replaced as soon as possible with materials that reduce fire risk, yet patients and staff will have to wait five years for reassurance that this risk to their safety has been dealt with.
“I believe in the interest of transparency and public safety that the Scottish Government must urgently set out the full details of how serious a risk this been judged to be, and I have written to the Health Secretary Humza Yousaf MSP ask him to publish this information.”
ENDS
*Issued as a Press Release on 29th November 2022