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| A £422m jewel in the crown |
Queen opens flagship PFI hospital
but it’s the patients who impress her most
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The Queen meets UCLH staff, above, and, below, staff and
young patients
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THE new £422 million University College London Hospital
gives doctors and nurses “the tools they need to do the job”,
hospital chairman Peter Dixon said when the Queen opened it on Thursday.
The royal visitor, who wore a duck-egg blue outfit and hat, went
on a 45-minute tour of the Euston Road hospital with the Duke of
Edinburgh, Mr Dixon and hospital trust chief executive Robert Naylor
during which she met dozens of staff.
They included Hampstead-based surgeon Paul Flynn, who carved the
letters HRH in an apple with a hi-tech laser normally used to remove
tumours from the throat.
Tight security at the hospital – just 400 yards from the scene
of the July 7 bus bombing – meant armed officers were supplemented
with a brace of lift engineers, in case the royal party got stuck
on the ride to the top floor.
Mr Dixon said: “The Queen seemed very impressed and asked a
lot of detailed questions. But I think she was most impressed by
the patients.”
He added: “University College has a long and rich history but
this is the most important event yet. It will transform the care
we give our patients.”
Frank Dobson, the Holborn and St Pancras Labour MP who gave the
private finance initiative hospital the go-ahead when he was Health
Secretary, met the Queen and said he was proud to have been involved
and that the PFI deal had been a success.
Last year Mr Dobson clashed with Mr Dixon and Mr Naylor – who
both boast backgrounds as millionaire businessmen – over the
hospital becoming a foundation trust with greater freedom from Whitehall
control.
He warned then that it would create a “two-tier” health
service, but on Thursday he said: “It is far too soon to say
what the effect of foundation trusts will be.”
The Duke of Edinburgh brought a big laugh from nurses in the imaging
department who were dressed from head to toe in surgical scrubs
when he asked: “Do you work here?”
He was shown a photograph of him meeting Mr Dixon at a canoeing
project in 1962, but Mr Dixon, a keen sailor and yacht owner, did
not get a chance to discuss life on the seven seas with the former
naval officer.
The royal visit follows a naming ceremony by former Health Secretary
John Reid last year and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s meeting
with staff following the July 7 bombings. The hospital opened to
patients two months ago. |
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