Margo McDonald: Asking questions

The new �184m Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is a flagship project for the government's private finance initiative, with an estimated completion date of 2003.

It will have more than 800 beds and will treat more than 100,000 patients a year.

Health officials said the hospital - which will replace the Victorian-era Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and two other hospitals - would be Scotland's biggest and best.

But a number of fire experts said they were seriously concerned that the new hospital was being built without a fire sprinkler system.

Tony Paterson, who has 25 years experience in the fire service and has been a fire safety consultant for more than 10 years, said regulations aimed at getting people to safety within minutes mean sprinklers were a must.

'Unsafe for patients'

"I know it is going to be more costly to get a sprinkler system in now, but I would still strongly advise that they do so," he said.

And Allan Campbell, the chairman of the Fire Brigades Union in Scotland, warned that the decision not to install sprinklers would put lives at risk.

He said: "It is going to be unsafe for patients, it is going to be unsafe for the nurses and it is going to be unsafe for our members."

There was an "overwhelming" argument in favour of sprinklers, said Mr Campbell, adding: "In the United States they are talking about fire sprinklers in domestic dwelling houses.

"This is a state-of-the-art hospital with patients in it and they are not considering it. I can only put it down to cost."

'Latest innovations'

But Dr Bob Masterton, deputy medical director of the Lothian University NHS Trust, said the sprinkler decision was not tied to costs and stressed that all the proper regulations had been met.

"The new hospital does have all the latest innovations that are required as part of the City of Edinburgh Council requirements, the fire authority requirements and the building memoranda from the government, so we comply fully with everything that is necessary in terms of the fire safety for our patients and staff in the new building," he said.

The Fire Prevention Association is running a nationwide campaign for fire sprinklers to be installed in all new buildings.

It said the system costs about the same as reasonable quality carpets.

Ms McDonald said she would be writing to the trust seeking assurances over fire safety.

"I am frankly astonished that something that is common practice in the US and something that has been recommended by the NHS since the mid-Eighties should not be the standard that is going to be followed at what we have been told is a state-of-the-art hospital," she said.