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Staff are turning up at the empty new NHS Sick Kids ­hospital despite having no work to do.

A Sunday Mail investigation can reveal around 70 workers are attending the ghost-ship hospital that has no patients.

The staffing mess comes despite Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announcing last week that the £150million facility wouldn’t be opened until 2020.

Last night, unions and ­politicians said they were ­flabbergasted the NHS had so many staff on the site.

Staff have privately ­repeatedly complained that they don’t have anything to do and a canteen for patients has opened despite not being viable.

Specially trained helipad operatives have been deployed as car park attendants to keep them busy.

There are also claims that porters can’t be used in a hospital just yards away due to an existing ­private ­contract.

Our probe comes as the controversy around the handling of Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids ­Hospital intensifies.

Taxpayers have been paying a ­private ­consortium £1.4million every month for the empty hospital since February.

In recent weeks, we have revealed the businesses and rich bankers making a fortune out of the sub-standard building.

The hospital is now due to open in autumn 2020 after ­further issues with ventilation, water and drainage systems were identified.

(Image: Jamie Williamson)

The problems come on top of issues with the ventilation ­system in the critical care unit, which led Freeman to order a last-minute cancellation of the planned opening in July.

First Minister Nicola ­Sturgeon was told last week that “heads should roll” over the delay to the ambitious hospital project.

Despite the ongoing issues, NHS bosses gave the green light for a canteen to open in the ­hospital within weeks of the postponement.

Staff have told unions how it struggles to earn £100 in takings each day.

Tom Waterson, of Unison, said: “It’s incredible. The workers on site are bored stiff. They have nothing to do.

“But they are keen to work. They feel very frustrated by the current situation.

“It’s not their fault, as they’ve been taken on to do work and have found themselves in this situation.

(Image: Getty Images)

“The money being paid to them is insignificant compared to the millions that is going in the pocket of the private banks who have presided over this catastrophe but is symptomatic of the organisational problems in NHS Lothian.

“The workers say not one of them has been asked to work at another site. It’s ridiculous.

“Especially when you consider how stretched the NHS is and how close the Royal ­Infirmary is.”

Our pictures show some staff ‘clocking off’ from their work in the unoccupied building on Friday. Those working on the site include an estimated 19 people hired to work on the roof helipad.

It was included in the plans despite the nearby Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) also having a ground-based helicopter facility.

When that PFI hospital opened in 1998, NHS Lothian bosses were ridiculed for putting in speed bumps on the road linking the ­hospital to the emergency helipad.

It meant ambulances rushing between the hosptial and landing zone were reduced to crawling speed.

It is understood the specialised helipad staff taken on to staff the Sick Kids air facilities have worked at the site for 18 months but there has yet to even be a test flight.

The workers – taken on in band 3 NHS wages, which offers a ­starting salary of around £20,000-per-year – are currently being deployed to work as car park attendants instead.

They are specially trained to deal with both medical situations and any potential disasters should a helicopter crash on the roof.

A canteen meant prinicpally for patients is also opened everyday by up to 10 bemused catering staff, despite only working for a handful of colleagues.

(Image: Sunday Mail)

Sources at the hospital say ­takings are £100-a-day “if lucky” and come from staff buying their lunch during their eight-hour shifts.

Porter staff have been deployed in various roles including ­maintaining the car park and cleaning duties but cannot ­transfer to the RIE, union officials say.

That’s because private company Engie has the contract to do all the non-patient porter work at the nearby ­hospital.

Scottish Labour spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “This must be the cleanest ­building in ­Scotland and there’s nobody in there to get it dirty.

"I ­understand staff working there still need facilities like a canteen but why wouldn’t they utilise the nearby canteen in the RIE?

“It’s not as if these people are out in the sticks and they have no ­facilities nearby.

“This just adds to the farce that is the Edinburgh Sick Kids ­hospital. We need an inquiry into what has gone on here.”

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said: “This is just another wasteful ­consequence of the SNP’s sheer incompetence over this ­project.

(Image: Â© Aerial Photography Solutions)

“We already know ­hundreds of thousands of young patients have missed out on care at a hospital that was meant to open in 2012.

“Now we learn ­significant amounts are being spent on staff with nothing to do.

“It underlines the chaos behind this scheme.” NHS Lothian said it will review how staff were being deployed at the hospital.

Professor Alex McMahon, nurse director, NHS Lothian, said: “We have a number of staff on site to look after the daily maintenance and logistical needs of the building, while security is a ­significant issue.

“Many of the staff have ­multi-faceted roles and some are already working across multiple sites, including the Sciennes ­building, the RIE and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.

“The heli-deck team, for example, are staff who work in logistics and security on a day-to-day basis, but have been specifically trained to assist with the helicopter as and when required.

“As the extent of the delay has become clear, we are reviewing the current arrangements and will work with staff to ensure that those personnel on site are required to be there while the building is ­unoccupied.”