Members' Business: St John’s Children’s Ward, Still Closed to Out-of-hours Inpatients

That the Parliament notes that the children’s ward at St John’s Hospital, Livingston, was closed to out-of-hours inpatients on 7 July 2017 for the third time in five years; understands that the latest report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has concluded that the area's population should be served by a 24/7 inpatient service; believes that this reaffirms the college's previous report on this matter; understands that the closure is due to an ongoing failure to recruit the appropriate staff; believes that, in its report, the college found the staff to be exhausted because of the continued pressure to maintain services with too few colleagues, and notes the view that NHS Lothian and the Scottish Government should set out a clear and realistic timetable for the establishment of a staffing model, which will both support the ward and its staff and end the closure for good.