[0762]

The Scottish govt could never have visualised a pandemic arising in the year 2020 as similarly never foreseeing the flawed part of a massive NHS "build" project called the Edinburgh Sick Kids' Hospital and the fact that the contractor's flaw that f##### up this project was a very small element of the project but it was an absolutely critical part of the whole design that has left this hospital in a vacant position. I thought the Scot govt could have commandeered even part of this hospital but Jeanne Freeman dismissed that idea as impractical mainly because of the flawed ventilation provision. Therefore field hospitals will be provided at various premises across the country - being commandeered for NHS emergency provision. PPE provision was definitely a big issue and the delay in overcoming this difficulty was unacceptable even though this impending crisis is hugely challenging beyond anything that any Scottish govt (or other govts worldwide!) has ever dealt with. Mistakes would inevitably be made on occasions under such demanding circumstances and Nicola Sturgeon recently acknowledged that would likely be the case. It looks like we are moving into a critical phase of this crisis next week and one can only wait n see how well it has been controlled and managed to minimise the impact. Here's hoping it works out somehow although the "damage" is already apparent and will get worse.