The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, known as the Sick Kids, is to be renamed when it moves to a new home.

The hospital, which first opened in 1860, is relocating to a purpose-built facility at Little France next year.

It will be renamed the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, while the charity which supports it - Sick Kids Friends Foundation - is also rebranding as Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity.

Roslyn Neely, chief executive of the charity, said: "Changing name is a big decision and we wanted to make sure we got it right.

"Over the past few months, we have spoken to many people about our name and logo, including children, young people and families using the hospital, staff, volunteers, supporters and almost 200 members of the public.

"The new name has proved very popular across all groups. All were agreed that they could see why we'd want to move away from 'Sick Kids' to a name, which with the inclusion of a second young person in our logo, now better reflects our support of the hospital."

She added: "Now that we've announced the change, we only ask people to continue to support us in whatever way they can. Our name may be different but our mission to raise funds remains the same.

"The clinical work of the hospital is world class and often groundbreaking. However, we rely completely on the public for all our donations and we still need support to help us provide the magical extras to benefit the hundreds of thousands of babies, children and young people who will be patients over future decades."

The new £150m hospital was due to open in autumn this year but it has been delayed by months and will open in spring 2018.

NHS Lothian said the delay has been caused by Dunne Group entering administration and JB Brickwork going into provisional liquidation, temporarily halting work on the site.

Brian Houston, Chair of NHS Lothian,  said: "I am delighted to announce that in view of the changes to the age range of patients and to reflect modern medicine, our new name for the affectionately known 'Sick Kids' will be The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh (RHCYP).

"Our vision for our new facility is to create a centre of excellence founded in Lothian's finest traditions of healthcare and medical research. It will allow us to deliver the highest standards of care and pioneer new treatments. It will provide a safe, comforting and healing environment which promotes recovery and meets the needs of patients and their carers.

"Not only does the move to the new location at Little France allow us to join up the dots between our children and adult services on one campus, but it gave us the opportunity to choose a name that represents the services that will be provided from the new hospital without losing the proud history of the 'Sick Kids'."