HEALTH Secretary Jeane Freeman has warned that the row over the fixing of Edinburgh's troubled new children's hospital should not get personal while admitting she does not yet know the cost of any repairs.
The £150m Royal Hospital for Children and Young People was due to open last month but Ms Freeman was forced to step in after the ventilation system failed safety checks. It further emerged that the 200-bed building also problems with draining.
Ms Freeman said that she did not yet know whether the ventilation would need to be replaced while a review is carried out of the water, ventilation and drainage systems at the hospital. There is as yet no date set for the opening of the site.
But she said she an investigation report being put together by Health Protection Scotland and Health Facilities Scotland, is expected by the end of August and early days of September.
READ MORE: Demand for 'full audit' into troubled hospital project
The Scottish Conservatives demanded public sector watchdog Audit Scotland probe the costly delay, while Labour have even called for the minister to resign.
But Ms Freeman told the BBC that the matter should not get personal.
"I honestly believe that if I was in opposition, I would wait for facts to emerge and I would never personalise matters, I don't think that really is helpful," she said.
She said issues with basement flooding and drainage were issues that caused delays "early on".
She said she had asked for a number of other "critical areas of the existing new hospital site" to be checked to ensure they are compliant with all standards, and that would include drainage.
Asked if the drainage issue had been resolved, she said: "As far as those involved in addressing the issue, it has been resolved, but I have asked for those additional checks along with others, not just on drainage, to be made so that I can be sure that every aspect of the hospital that relates to patient safety and staff safety that I have the additional assurance that they are all compliant with the relevant standard.
READ MORE: SNP Health Secretary could have to resign over hospital scandal, says trade unionist
"I am clear that regardless of whether problems are raised with me or not, there are a range of known areas of any hospital which impact on patient and staff safety that need to be compliant with standards, and I just want to be absolutely sure before we move on that we are compliant across all those areas in that new site.
"That compliance with the exception of the ventilation of the critical care area, that level of compliance will help trigger, I hope, a phased migration of services into the new hospital from the existing site."
She sidestepped calls for a public inquiry, saying she would keep local MPs and MSPs informed with everything that she has done.
She added: "I have given the staff my absolute personal assurance that when I have the information then I will have the information."
The health board has been paying around £1.4m for the empty hospital to developers Integrated Health Solutions Lothian (IHSL) under the 25-year private finance deal agreed for the new building.
It has also paid the private consortium £11.6 million in a settlement agreement.
The hospital is being paid for via the non-profit distributing private finance model supported by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Futures Trust.
The total contracted cost for IHSL to design, build, finance and maintain the hospital over 25 years is £432 million.
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