Repair bill for hospital blaze damage to run into ‘millions’

Insurance assessors and structural engineers were on the scene at Chesterfield Royal Hospital yesterday where a fire broke out in the main entrance area on Saturday night.

It is thought that the most badly affected areas will take months to rebuild. But yesterday services which were based in the area, including accident and emergency, were up and running.

The hospital’s chief executive, Eric Morton, said: “It is a testament to staff that we are up and running less than 48 hours after this tragic event.

“They have worked incredibly hard to ensure temporary facilities are in place so that patient care is affected as little as possible.

“We know that there will be some inconvenience, but we are certain that patients appreciate that we are operating under very difficult circumstances.”

The fire started in a shop and 10 fire engines were at the scene at the height of the blaze.

Yesterday it emerged that the area where the fire took hold was not covered by a sprinkler system. But the hospital said that even if one had been fitted it would not have worked as the fire was caused by an electrical fault.