A London hospital placed coronavirus patients in a critical care unit it knew was a 'Grenfell' fire risk

Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images

• King's College Hospital officials knew they were moving coronavirus patients into a unit that had fire risks similar to those that caused 72 deaths in the Grenfell Tower inferno.
• Coronavirus units inside hospitals are a special risk for fires as ICU patients are often sedated and because large amounts of oxygen are used in their treatment. At least 15 people have died in Covid hospital fires this year.
• MP Vicky Foxcroft wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking for "clarity" on fire risk at NHS hospitals.
• The unit at King's was closed a week after Insider began investigating.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

King's College Hospital in London opened a new critical care unit for coronavirus patients at the height of the pandemic crisis even though officials knew the building had fire-risk issues identified in the wake of the Grenfell tower disaster, hospital officials told Insider.

Patients were treated in the 60-bed unit from March until July even though the building needed "remedial work" to make it safe from Grenfell-type fire risks, hospital sources told Insider.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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