There’s a major overhaul at St Pancras Hospital

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HOSPITAL staff have been warned that an infectious fungus that attacks the lungs and can cause “significant health problems” has been stirred during demolition works.

An alert has gone out at St Pancras Hospital warning that the airborne spores from “aspergillus” mould can have a serious impact on existing respiratory conditions like COPD.

New air filtration units are being fitted and windows are being sealed while staff and patients have been told to “limit time spent outside near the demolition site as much as practicable”.

An NHS source told the New Journal on Monday that concern was growing among healthcare workers, adding: “Builders were wearing heavy duty masks whilst none of the staff were aware this fungus was floating in the air. “Patients are walking about the site and none of them have been given masks to wear.”

The Victorian St Pancras Hospital is being knocked down as part of a major redevelopment to build a new Moorfield’s Oriel Eye Hospital with mental health patients being transferred to a new hospital in Highgate, which has been delayed due to rising construction costs.

Internal emails from Camden and Islington Foundation Trust, seen by the New Journal, said that demolition works has released Aspergillus that is described as “a mould fungus that can cause significant health problems when breathed in for those with serious health conditions”.

It is normally found in soil, compost, damp buildings and air conditioning systems. Most people who breathe in the mould do not get ill.

A spokesperson for the Trust said that risk assessments had been carried out and that safety is its “top priority”. Full sheeting over large buildings had been erected, they said, adding: “Test results show that aspergillus levels have not risen significantly from baseline assessments which were taken before demolition started.”

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