The Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea has opened its doors to patients for the first time today (January 7) since part of the hospital suffered a serious fire on the afternoon of January 2.
Press officer Liz Garton explained that the worst of the fire was in a plant room and to the roof section of the building on the Stewarts Grove side of the hospital, some distance from the chemotherapy and radiotherapy facilities. While the fire had not significantly damaged the inpatient wards in the floors below, she said water used to fight it and smoke had caused some damage; nevertherless it is planned to open three wards today, and others “within a few weeks”. Newspaper reports in the days immediately following the fire suggested operating theatres had been badly damaged. The hospital has not commented in detail on this, although it says the majority of the equipment is intact and in good condition. However Liz Garton said it could be “some time” before operations could resume.
She added: “Of the remaining inpatients evacuated from the hospital on January 2, some have been discharged and others are being cared for by our second site in Sutton. It is too accurately determine the scale of the damage to the Royal Marsden overall, or how much it will cost to repair it.” She could not comment on recent press reports that the hospital will have to pay significant sums to other hospitals such as the Royal Brompton for the care provided to Royal Marsden patients in the past week. Cally Palmer, chief executive of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to be able to open up part of our hospital so soon after last week’s fire. Our first concern is always with our patients and our main aim is to reassure them that we are doing everything we can to get back to as normal a service as possible. This has been a difficult time for our patients and our staff and I would like to give special thanks to them for their patients and hard work. We are also deeply grateful to the emergency services, the Royal Brompton and all those who have supported us at this difficult time.”
“We still have a great deal to do over coming weeks and months – cleaning, repairing, rebuilding and refurbishing our Chelsea hospital – in order to deliver the excellence in cancer care, treatment and research the Royal Marsden is renowned for.” The London Fire Brigade, which sent 25 fire engines and around 125 firefighters to fight the blaze, says investigation into the cause is till ongoing, but the incident “does not appear to have been suspicious”.
