Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has said she is unable to say when the children's ward at St John's Hospital in Livingston will open round-the-clock again.
The ward was forced to close to inpatient admissions more than two years ago and it emerged it will not fully re-open as planned next month amid an ongoing doctor shortage.
The 14-bed unit at St John’s Hospital in Livingston was expected to resume full opening hours from October, but Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has said the “current staffing situation prevents the safe reinstatement of a 24/7 inpatient service”.
Ms Freeman stressed her "commitment is absolute" to making sure the ward can care for patients full-time.
She said she understood "the disappointment faced by parents in West Lothian", describing the delay as "an additional worry and an additional burden for them".
READ MORE: St John's children's ward still too short of doctors to re-open 24/7
But after having said at the start of the year that the ward would be full reopened in October, she was questioned by MSPs over the delay.
And while Ms Freeman could not say when the ward would once again provide 24/7 care, she said she would update MSPs on the situation at the start of November.
The Health Secretary said: "What I will make a commitment to doing is updating members at the start of November on what progress we have made this month."
The children’s ward had battled a string of temporary shutdowns due to staffing shortages but was eventually closed to inpatient admissions in July 2017 while additional paediatric consultants could be recruited.
Although the ward remained open daily from 8am to 8pm so that day case procedures and assessments could continue, children from the West Lothian area who required overnight care had to travel 20 miles to Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
The closure was initially billed as being for summer 2017 only, but has dragged on due to recruitment struggles.
In March this year, the ward resumed 24/7 opening from Monday to Thursday, with limited opening hours remaining in place from Friday to Sunday.
Since then, 456 children have been admitted as inpatients.
Local SNP MSP Angela Constance said: "West Lothian parents are deeply disappointed, not least because they face another winter of travelling to Edinburgh with their wee ones at the weekend when they could and should be cared for locally."
Ms Freeman also came under fire from Labour, with health spokeswoman Monica Lennon saying: "Families will be bitterly disappointed that they are being let down yet again."
Both Ms Constance and Ms Lennon pressed the Health Secretary on when the ward would reopen full-time.
Meanwhile, Labour Lothian MSP Neil Findlay, referring to staffing problems at the hospital, said: "This shambles has gone on for seven years and it is still not resolved."
Ms Freeman stressed patient safety was the key factor in determining when the ward could fully re-open.
READ MORE: St John's childrens ward to resume 24-hour opening four days a week
And while she said NHS Lothian had taken on 16 new staff since a review in 2016, three people working on the children's ward had left over the period, with a further three on either reduced hours or extended maternity leave.
The Health Secretary told MSPs: "The current staffing means that 32 of the current 40 out of hours shifts needed to reach 24/7 delivery can be covered. So more recruitment is needed."
She added: "I remain committed to a full 24/7 service and continue to actively support the board's efforts to achieve that."
Comments made in January that the ward would be fully operational in October were "not a promise but a commitment", she continued, with the Health Secretary making clear she is "not personally in charge of staff recruitment".
She also told MSPs she had asked NHS Lothian to "over-recruit" staff for the children's ward "in order to ensure they can take account of instances like long-term sicknesses".
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