Carillion collapse delays hospital building

Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA), has called for clarity about the future of two hospitals Carillion was building when it collapsed, amid concern about the impact of delays on already stretched NHS services.

Patients’ groups joined the trade body in demanding answers after local NHS trusts revealed that work on the £335 million Royal Liverpool University and £350 million Midland Metropolitan hospitals has halted.

The chief executive of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University hospitals NHS trust, Aidan Kehoe, said Carillion’s liquidation would further postpone a project that had been delayed twice.

The two hospitals were among multimillion-pound public-private partnership (PPP) contracts that were proving much more costly than Carillion had hoped.

While the government has agreed to keep funding Carillion’s public sector staff in an effort to prevent disruption to public services, the future of the hospitals is less certain.

The Royal Liverpool was originally meant to be completed in March 2017 but has faced success delays, after workers found asbestos in the ground and cracks in concrete beams. It was expected to open in June 2018 but the NHS trust admitted it now does not know when the building will be finished.

Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA, said: “We urgently need clarity on exactly what is going to happen to the hospitals in Liverpool and Birmingham. With the construction in Liverpool already delayed by more than a year, patients and staff need answers on when construction will resume and if services will be further delayed.

“Unfortunately, this is a classic example of what can happen when these PFI [private finance initiative] deals go wrong – construction stalls, services are delayed or collapse and taxpayers are expected to foot the bill.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The government is doing everything possible to minimise the impact and along with the hospital regulator NHS Improvement we will continue to support all NHS organisations involved to ensure there are plans in place to keep any construction delays to a minimum.”

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “The collapse of Carillion has extremely serious implications for those hospital trusts with a relationship to the firm.

“In the midst of an unprecedented winter crisis, the government must urgently reassure patients and staff that their meals will still be cooked, hospital wards cleaned and that construction on new hospitals will not cease.”