How the fire could affect cancer care

A blaze engulfed the top floor of the Royal Marsden Hospital in London today forcing cancer patients and staff into the cold as scores of firefighters tried to rescue the historic building.

More than 150 emergency services personnel, including 125 firefighters from 25 fire engines and crews from 10 ambulances, attended the world renowned cancer centre.

Police closed streets surrounding the cancer hospital, where part of the top floor and the roof were alight, sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air.

Cally Palmer, chief executive of the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said five operating theatres and at least two wards were very badly affected by the blaze, during which up to 150 patients were evacuated when the fire began at lunchtime.

But despite the damage she said she still hoped to be able to reopen part of the site to patients tomorrow.

“It clearly is a very serious fire," she said.

"We’re still trying to access the extent of the damage the fire has caused but it has mainly affected one part of the building. We've moved 79 in-patients to alternative locations, all our out-patients have been taken to a local church to be supported there while we work out whether to send them to one of the local hospitals or whether they’re fit to go home.”

She added: “We’re hoping that wards, out-patient areas and some of the other patient areas can be used from tomorrow onwards but clearly we need to assess that with the fire brigade later on today.”

After the blaze broke out in the west London hospital patients were seen being led out onto the street covered in blankets to protect them from outside temperatures of just 3C, with the most frail being taken out in wheelchairs.

Some were taken to a nearby church while others transferred to the nearby Chelsea and Westminster and Royal Brompton hospitals. A few patients were treated on makeshift beds set up by hospital staff in a nearby ambulance bay.

Uniformed nurses and doctors dressed in scrubs and wearing stethoscopes were also seen evacuating, with some seen carrying oxygen cylinders and wheeling other medical equipment out of the hospital.

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