INVERCLYDE Royal Hospital will 'close by default' if Scotland's health secretary fails to deliver on the funding needed to make the building watertight, campaigners have claimed.
The warning comes after Neil Gray said the Scottish Government cannot commit to spending money to improve the façade and install new windows by next year.
Two years ago, Health Improvement Scotland compelled Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board to act on the back of an inspection report which raised the alarm about the state of the building and the impact on the safe delivery of care.
But despite the findings of that report, Mr Gray recently told Inverclyde and West Renfrewshire MP Martin McCluskey that the [[Scottish Government]] still cannot guarantee the funding required to carry out the improvements.
Raymond O'Donoghue, Clyde convener of the Unison trade union, who works at the IRH and has spoken out repeatedly on the need for investment, said: "The building is porous. The water ingress is everywhere. In the winter it comes in everywhere.
"We have been raising this for more than 25 years.
"It is a terrible environment for staff and patients. Some parts of the building are worse than others.
"They are closing the IRH by default unless they spend the money that is needed. Are they just waiting for it to fall to bits around us?
"They have made smaller investments here and there, but it is just tinkering round the edges.
"The health board has no money. It is the same everywhere, and successive governments have failed to act.
"When Greater Glasgow and Clyde took over from Argyll and Clyde there was money set aside for cladding but it never materialised.
"This has been going that long."
Health Improvement Scotland heavily criticised the state of parts of the hospital in a report published in February 2023.
They were critical of the building and the need for repairs, and in their report - published four months after an unannounced visit to the facility - they demanded action from the health board.
The report said: "We found several areas where the environment was in a poor state of repair and not well maintained.
"This included windows, wooden surfaces and flooring that were damaged.
"The care environment should be well maintained and in a good state of repair to facilitate effective cleaning."
In response, the health board's chairman and chief executive agreed to an action plan with significant investment to replace the exterior façade by 2026.
"We were promised these repairs would be concluded by 2026 with a new façade and new windows for the hospital.
"The health board agreed these improvements with Health Improvement Scotland.
"The health board have been clear with me that funding decisions are for the Scottish Government to make.
"We need clarity from the Scottish Government. Will this work be completed by 2026 or will the promise to people in Inverclyde be broken?”
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The MP added: "[[Inverclyde]] Royal Hospital is a lifeline for people in our communities and we need the SNP led [[Scottish Government]] to commit to funding the repairs to the façade of our hospital.
"Their lack of urgency in guaranteeing these repairs shows that their focus remains on the 18 years of political games we’ve seen than delivering for our communities. Our patients and our healthcare staff deserve better."
In his reply, Mr Gray confirmed that although the Scottish Government is funding the design plans for the work, it is unable to make any further financial commitment at this stage.
Mr Gray said: "This year we are providing £139m additional investment across NHS infrastructure targeted at high-risk areas of maintenance and repair of the existing estate, essential equipment, and digital replacement.
"This provides a five per cent increase to NHS boards’ core capital allocations as well as supporting boards’ priority maintenance, projects already in construction and ongoing ambulance and radiotherapy replacement programmes.
"Despite this increase there is continued challenge and uncertainty in the capital funding position."
"We are already working with all health boards, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to develop a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan to inform strategic investment priorities across the NHS estate – supporting continued safe operation of existing facilities and determination of longer-term investment priorities.
"The first step has been to support business continuity which, following a review of Boards’ risk-based priorities (submitted to Scottish Government in January), has highlighted a number of issues which need to be addressed, including external works at the IRH.
"We have therefore agreed to fund the design work for replacing the hospital’s façade and will make a decision on funding the façade replacement when the design is complete and full costs are known."
This comes on the back of a recent row over the failure to deliver a new health centre in Port Glasgow, following an in-person visit by Mr Gray.
Plans for a new college campus in Inverclyde have also been dropped because of a lack of funding.
"We also have a rolling programme of maintenance and replacement at IRH and across the NHSGGC estate.
"As part of this programme, we have submitted a business case for replacement of the exterior envelope at the IRH to the Scottish Government and we await the outcome of this application.
“We are working closely with the health board to support the best quality healthcare facilities for patients and staff."
A Scottish Government spokesman echoed the above points Mr Gray made in his letter.
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