STAFF at Wythenshawe Hospital have pulled out all the stops to enable operations to resume - just a week after a devastating fire wrecked four operating theatres.

Theatre areas in other parts of the hospital have been brought into use as well as two extra operating theatres at Withington Hospital.

The blaze caused around £1 million worth of damage to the four main operating theatres, including the emergency theatre, resulting in planned operations being cancelled for the rest of the week.

Jane Herbert, chief executive of University Hospitals Trust, praised staff for ensuring operations have been resumed so soon after the fire: "We hope that these actions will enable us to carry out the operations which would have taken place in the main theatres at Wythenshawe. Our staff have been working flat out to ensure that any cancelled operations are rescheduled as quickly as possible so that the impact on patients is minimised. It is likely to be some months before the main theatres can be brought back into use."

The intensive care unit was evacuated by staff and an operation in progress at the time was suspended, after the blaze broke out a fortnight ago.

The adjacent cardiac and transplant theatres were not affected by the smoke or fire but the supply of medical gases was interrupted which put them out of use the day after the blaze.

Although the cause of the fire is still under investigation, arson is suspected - it was the third fire at the hospital within a month.

Jane Herbert adds: "Security at both hospitals has been tightened and we are asking staff to be particularly vigilant and report anything suspicious to our security staff."

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