Intensive care unit shut over fire safety fears

A newly built £100 million intensive care unit at King’s College hospital in south London has been closed after it failed fire safety checks, leading to seriously ill patients being moved out.

The Guardian reports that the hospital, which has declared a critical incident over the closure, shut the critical care unit after its own engineers and the London Fire Brigade identified problems that could potentially make it unsafe.

The unit, which holds up to 56 patients, only opened in April and is the biggest and most advanced facility of its kind in the NHS. In recent weeks it has helped King’s manage an influx of seriously ill coronavirus patients. It is understood to have had about 30 patients when the critical incident was declared on the morning of 22 July.

The hospital is undertaking urgent remedial work to remove the risk posed by the panels, which should be finished by 24 July.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said in a statement to the Guardian: “The trust has closed the new critical care unit so that it can complete the outstanding remedial work inside the unit itself, as well as rectify issues identified more recently.

“Before the unit was opened in April as part of the trust’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of mitigations were put in place to ensure the safety of our staff and patients. The remaining patients in the unit are being moved to critical care wards at King’s College hospital, Denmark Hill, so that the remedial work can be completed as quickly as possible.”