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“Absolutely incredible” achievements in the aftermath of the September fire at Great Ormond Street Hospital have been praised by health minister Ben Bradshaw.
Forty patients evacuated from the Ladybird cardiac ward even before firefighters arrived have now been settled into a temporary ward.
Chief Executive Jane Collins said the Ladybird ward was undergoing refurbishment and should be finished by February next year.
She said that, even though the loss of the ward means the hospital is 16 beds down, the cardiac unit has managed to get back to normal fairly quickly.
She praised staff on the day of the fire, calling their actions “remarkable”. She said: “They got all the patients evacuated, I think, even before the fire engines came.”
Mr Bradshaw said: “Absolutely incredible things are being done here. In my view it’s the best hospital in the world, and the dedication of the staff, who are working with tiny babies and parents for whom it is a very traumatic experience, is second to none.”
Finola Byrne, a senior staff nurse, said the move to temporary accommodation had not been too stressful. She said: “We’ve done our best to make sure the patients are happy and getting the best care.”
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