Hospital delayed by Carillion collapse to open unit for coronavirus patients

A new hospital in the North West, which was delayed when engineering giant Carillion collapsed, will open a unit to help patients recovering from coronavirus.

The new 646-bed Royal Liverpool University Hospital was originally due to open in 2017 but at the beginning of this year no opening date had been set.

The Government stepped in to fund completion after work stopped when Carillion went out of business in January 2018, but a number of structural problems were identified when Laing O'Rourke took over the build in October that year.

Now, hospital bosses say a state-of-the-art "step-down" unit, made up of single-bed rooms, will open on the site next week.

The facility, in what will become the hospital's acute medical unit, will help patients with Covid-19 and other conditions recover their independence before being discharged.

Chief executive of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Steve Warburton said: "As part of our early pandemic planning, we considered the potential to make part of the acute medical unit in the new Royal into an operational area."

Up to 65 patients, most of them older people, will be treated in the unit by 130 staff, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, healthcare assistants, doctors and nurses.

Mr Warburton said: "This is certainly not a case of the whole new Royal opening early, but we do have the ability to expand the unit further if needed in the immediate future."