Royal Marsden fire update

The Royal Marsden in Chelsea has opened its doors to patients less than a week after part of the building caught fire.

Outpatients can now receive their chemotherapy and radiotherapy at hospital, while others can continue their consultations and treatments with their clinical teams, doctors and consultants.

In addition, the 21 inpatients who are still being cared for by Royal Marsden staff at The Royal Brompton hospital, located a few hundred yards away, are hoping to be back at The Royal Marsden this 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 dreadful fire. Our first concern is always for 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.

“We also plan to open three wards today in the parts of the hospital that have not been damaged by the fire, and in a few weeks’ time we plan to have further wards open.

“This has been a difficult time for our patients and our staff and I would like to give special thanks to them for the patience and hard work they have all put in.

“We are also deeply grateful to the emergency services, The Royal Brompton and all those who have supported us. The fact that we can open our doors less than week after this serious fire is a tribute to the immense hard work of the whole team.

"But we still have a great deal to do over the coming weeks and months – cleaning, repairing, rebuilding and refurbishing our Chelsea hospital – in order to deliver the excellence in cancer care, treatment and research that The Royal Marsden is renowned for.”

Posted: 09/01/2008

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