The lives of countless people in Merseyside and the West Midlands were supposed to be changed for the better through the creation of two new flagship hospitals that should have been open by now, but the collapse of Carillion put paid to the prospects of a timely completion for the Midland Metropolitan and Royal Liverpool hospitals.

The building programmes have now been brought back under public control and restarted, but are only going ahead thanks to government intervention in the form of more funding. 

However, the NHS trusts involved are under greater pressure to balance their own books, having to spend more money on keeping dilapidated buildings running for longer than they planned, while patients and staff must cope with existing hospitals well past their sell-by date.

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