NHS Lothian was kept in the dark about Scottish government plans to build Edinburgh’s children’s hospital with private finance, an inquiry is to hear.

Ministers did not give notice of changes to the project funding, leading to delays, a finance director said.

Senior NHS Lothian officials have given statements to be heard on Tuesday at the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry.

This phase of the inquiry explores the business case and governance of the Edinburgh children’s hospital project.

It will hear how financing for the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP) switched to the Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) model of private finance.

Susan Goldsmith, NHS Lothian’s director of finance, said the board was not given advance notice of the Scottish government’s announcement.

She said in her statement: “If we were consulted, we would most likely have reiterated our concern about the additional complexities of delivering a revenue funded (NPD) project on a revenue funded (PFI) site.”

She added: “At the time I knew the project was going to be more difficult to deliver, but I had no idea just how difficult.

“I have been asked whether the switch to NPD resulted in delays to the project. It is my conclusion that it did.”

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