After years of frustrating delays, the new Royal Liverpool Hospital site is finally close to welcoming patients and staff.
The new hospital was initially due to open in 2017 but major issues - including the collapse of constructors Carillion - have led to five years of delays. But last week, the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust announced the move from the old site to the new one will begin at the end of September and should be completed less than a month after that.
The ECHO was granted access to the impressive new facility and you can see the pictures from that tour here. But with the new Royal soon to open, questions remain about what will happen to the old one.
READ MORE: 21 exclusive pictures inside the new Royal Liverpool Hospital
The old Royal building opened in 1978 and has served the city ever since - despite ongoing infrastructure problems. Looking at the crumbling, unsightly building, it is clear why Liverpool is desperate for its sparkling new facility to finally open.
When the new build plans were first announced, the Trust stated: "Once (the new hospital) is constructed, our existing hospital will be demolished. In its place, there are plans to develop a world-class health campus, as well as landscaping green space, roughly the size of Chavasse Park."
In January 2020, two years after Carillion's collapse, a report from the National Audit Office, projected the overall costs of the new Royal could tip over the £1.1 billion mark. It also commented on the plans for the old building, stating: "Further work to demolish the old hospital and create a new underground car park and public plaza, was not included in the PFI project and is currently unfunded. The cost of this was not included in the PFI project and is currently estimated at £38 million."
During our recent tour of the new building, we asked the Trust's new chief executive James Sumner about the plan for the old Royal site. He said: "Our plan is to demolish the old building. We have to put a business case together for that, which we will have to submit to NHS England. Depending on that national funding our plan will be to demolish that building.
"It will rely on that funding to get to that next phase, we are obviously very hopeful that now we have the new building ready and soon to open, it would be very logical to deal with the old building. It is just a case of getting that business case together.
He added: "There are still things to talk about. I've had some talks with the local council and the university and there are lots of views on how this could become a health site or campus as well as lots of other things that are up for discussion.
"Once we know more about the business case and that funding we can release more details about those plans. But we absolutely want this to be something that benefits the city and the local population."
Speaking about the new Royal Hospital, the new Trust boss added: "It is going to be massive. We have said many times that the people of this city deserve better. There are huge challenges in this city in terms of health and deprivation and they deserve the facilities to help with that and this is an amazing new hospital. This is not something that exists across the country, it is a fantastic facility and I hope people will really find it a step above what they have experienced before."
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