Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GRENFELL HORROR 11 DAYS ON: RICH TORY HOUSING CHIEF IN HIDING Privately funded hospitals ‘facing Grenfell fire risks’
HOSPITALS across the UK could be exposing patients to the same fire risks that left Grenfell Tower a scorched wreck, a whistleblower has claimed.
The senior NHS employee says some companies that built hospitals under private finance initiatives have cut corners when it comes to safety.
Last night the whistleblower said: “Some building companies are playing pirate with the public purse.
“They know the hospitals are cash-strapped so they are cutting corners on safety, putting the lives at risk. It is only a matter of time before people are killed.” A Sunday Mirror probe has found a raft of disputes. Bosses at Peterborough City Hospital were ordered to rectify failings after fire chiefs said safeguards “were not as robust as those specified in the original plans”.
Officials in charge of University Hospital Coventry were left with a £50million bill to fix fire safety flaws, while patients at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle were put at “intolerable risk” by safety failings. And chiefs at Hereford County Hospital fought to keep details of fire safety flaws secret after an enforcement notice was served on their PFI partner Mercia Healthcare.
Peterborough City Hospital was slapped with an enforcement notice by fire chiefs, who said problems were so extensive it will take until 2019 to fix them.
North West Anglia Foundation Trust boss Stephen Graves said: “Work is currently taking place.”
Sarah Westwood, general manager for PFI partner Peterborough (Progress Health) said: “The costs of the works are being met by the private sector.”
Skanska, which built hospitals in Coventry, said they had nothing further to add. Stephen Eames, of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We will work alongside our PFI partner to focus on completing any remaining works.” Representatives for Wye Valley NHS Trust, in charge of Hereford County Hospital, failed to respond to a request for comment.
FEARS SAFETY FAILINGS Peterborough City Hospital