Children’s Services Chaos in Lothian

That the Parliament understands that the St John’s children’s ward has experienced problems with staffing for around seven years and has had three separate periods of out of hours closures during this time; believes that these closures have meant young people having to transfer to Edinburgh for treatment instead of attending the hospital near where they stay; notes the statement to Parliament by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport in January 2019 in which she advised that the weekend service cover would be reinstated in October, returning the ward to a 24/7 service; is appalled at the news that this will not now happen and that the staffing problems remain; notes that this comes at the same time as the new sick kids hospital, which is six years late and is costing £1.4 million a month in charges, is lying empty, and questions whether NHS Lothian and the Scottish Government have any realistic proposal to put the ward on a sustainable long-term footing.