Hospital heating problems denied

The new South Glasgow Hospital will replace the Southern General

Health officials have denied that faulty heating is affecting patients in Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.

Newspaper reports said heating failures had been happening in one ward block for almost a year, with some patients being issued with extra blankets.

But NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said reports of no heating were "not true".

It said "sporadic" problems could result in heating being "interrupted" but the problems were usually fixed within a few hours.

In a statement, the health authority said: "The entire heating system for the block does not fail - but from time to time the heating supply to a particular ward within the block can be interrupted.

"Our engineers are called out immediately and usually rectify any problems within the course of a few hours.

"Whilst any repairs are under way, supplementary heaters are brought onto the ward and extra blankets are supplied for patient comfort."

The authority said that the block affected was a 19th Century building which would be completely replaced when the £850m new South Glasgow Hospital was built.