ENGINEERING giant Carillion’s collapse will delay the construction of two “desperately needed” hospitals for several years, an official report found yesterday.

The 646-bed Royal Liverpool, which was set to open in 2017, is forecast to be completed more than five years late, according to the National Audit Office.

With no opening date set, it is now predicted the hospital will cost more than £1 billion to build and run, compared with an original cost of £746 million, said the NAO.

Taxpayers will shoulder £739m of this, down 1 per cent.

Separately the 669-bed Midland Metropolitan, due to open in October 2018, is now expected to open in the summer of 2022, at a cost of at least £988m.

This is £300m more than the original amount — and taxpayers will provide £709m of this sum, an increase of 3 per cent.

There had already been significant construction problems and delays before Carillion went into liquidation in January 2018 but the contractor’s collapse created more setback, according to the NAO.

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said the report made “grim reading,” adding: “Two desperately needed hospitals are going to be years late and in the meantime, local communities are left with facilities that are no longer fit for purpose.

“The responsibility for these delays has to lie squarely at the door of the government, which consistently failed to prioritise the overriding need that these hospitals had to be built.

“While the report notes the financial cost of the projects, the human cost of the delays of completing the hospitals has not been recognised.”