King's Lynn: Crumbling QEH in use 10 years after use-by date

The 500-bed Queen Elizabeth Hospital replaced the old Lynn Hospital off London Road, which dated back to 1835.

Use It Up And Wear It Out by Odyssey ironically topped the singles charts on the day the QEH opened its doors on July 22, 1980.

It was one of a clutch of so-called Best Buy hospitals built from the latest prefabricated concrete components to cut costs and speed up the modernisation of the NHS.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) planks were used to construct its roof.

Nurses pictured at the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 1984 (Image: Newsquest)

Likened to bars of Aero chocolate, they not only allowed for a lighter structure but would also help cut the NHS's fuel bills.

Experts said at the time that RAAC had an expected working lifespan of 30 years - meaning a replacement hospital would have needed to be on the agenda before 2010.

But that day came and went. And before the turn of the next decade, the QEH was still in operation 10 years after its original use-by date.

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Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother officially opening the new geriatric ward at the QEH in 1985 (Image: Newsquest)

First the roof began to leak on first-floor wards when it rained. Then surveyors found the planks had begun to sag and crack.

Reports to the QEH's ruling board warned of catastrophic collapse, as the first props were brought in to shore up the ceiling.

North West Norfolk elected a new MP in 2019, as the extent of the problem became clear.

Tory James Wild told the house his constituency needed a new hospital in his maiden speech in Parliament.

Props and girders holding up the ceiling at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Image: Chris Bishop)

But the QEH was not included in the list of 42 "new hospitals" announced by prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020.

Some were not actually new. Work on others has yet to start, amid suggestions the government can no longer afford the £3.7bn programme.

Back in King's Lynn, there were petitions and protests as anger mounted.

The new hospital was originally priced at around £600m. The government announced an extra £90m to prevent the roof from collapsing.

Protestors outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Senior staff put a brave face on it to begin with. But as minister after minister toured the building, there was no sign of a solution.

By then, the QEH held the dubious honour of being the most-propped hospital in Britain.

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An announcement was expected before MPs rose for the summer recess in 2022. Then it was touted to be before Christmas.

Then it was after Christmas, then it was the spring, then it was in the budget, then it was after the May 4 local elections.

A sign at the QEH warning staff to report any deterioration they notice in the building as they go about their rounds (Image: Chris Bishop)

As the number of props needed to prevent it from collapsing soared into the thousands, the prognosis from senior staff became more dire.

Despite £90m to stop it collapsing the hospital would become unsafe by 2030. And there was no Plan B.

Before Christmas, there were hints from Lord Markham, who by then was overseeing the new hospitals programme, that the QEH and five other hospitals built from RAAC would be fast-tracked.

It now remains to be seen whether a new hospital can be delivered in just seven years.