Sheffield Hospital building closed due to fire safety concerns set to reopen UK News

The South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has given Sheffield teaching hospitals the green light to reopen the Robert Hadfield building, which had been closed due to concerns over fire protection measures in the walls.

The building has undergone a major refurbishment program to address the concerns raised and the Trust is currently cleaning, equipping and organizing the logistics of moving and return services to the building.

We hope that the first quarters will reopen in the coming weeks and that the rest will open at the beginning of the summer.

Kirsten Major, Managing Director, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘We are delighted that the Hadfield building has now been approved to reopen and would like to thank the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service for their support. and his advice. the past two years to get us to this point.

“The safety of our staff and patients is paramount and therefore, while it has taken a long time to get to this point, it was important that we undertook the required work and were satisfied that we received the confirmation from firefighters that it was fit to use. for patient care again.

“Our areas and clinical teams are now working on a gradual return of services to the building and we hope to have the first two services open early next month.

“I would also like to thank all of our teams here at the Trust for the work they have done to manage this situation over the past two years, given the challenges of COVID-19.”

The Robert Hadfield Building was built in 2007 as part of the Private Finance Initiative. Following news of its closure due to fire safety concerns, the Sheffield Save Our NHS campaign sparked an uproar, which called PFI contracts a ‘scam’.

Catherine McAndrew, of Sheffield Save Our NHS, said at the time: “The Robert Hadfield wing is a perfect example of the scam that is PFI. By the end of the contract we will have paid contract holders £ 122million for a hospital wing that cost £ 25.9million for which we have already paid £ 37million.

“It’s a further insult that the wing had to shut down for failing to meet fire safety standards as contract holders were awarded nearly a million pounds last year to maintain the wing. “

The Trust worked with PFI partner organizations who were tasked with completing the remediation works.

During the period when the building could not be used, the Trust did not pay the unit costs and the NHS money was not used to pay for the repair work.

Regional Director Simon Dunker added: “It’s always a difficult decision to ban a building, especially where it has the potential to cause so much disruption, but it was the right thing to do to ensure the safety of all.

“We are pleased with the way the hospital staff engaged with our inspectors to resolve the issues we identified, which enabled us to lift the prohibition notice.”