London: Up to 38 hospital sites in Britain may be as dangerous as Grenfell Tower, with nine identified as especially at risk, fire chiefs have warned.
The alert came as more than 17,000 care homes and private hospitals were ordered to undertake their own safety reviews in the wake of the disaster that killed at least 79 people on June 14.
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London fire: high-rises fail safety tests
The cladding on at least sixty high-rise buildings have failed fire safety tests after inspections following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
British Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a national investigation into the use of potentially flammable cladding on high-rise towers on Tuesday. It follows checks on cladding at residential tower blocks in which all 95 samples so far submitted by councils failed fire safety tests.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said the investigation into use of the material may form part of the public inquiry announced into the west London blaze.
The National Health Service (NHS) regulators last week ordered an audit of every hospital amid concerns about wider use of the cladding.
The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) said on Tuesday night local time that 38 NHS sites had been found to have similar characteristics to those of Grenfell.
Over the weekend, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt instructed every inpatient hospital to undergo safety checks within 36 hours. But the demand was met with chaos, with fire chiefs saying they could not cope with the volume of work on top of other efforts to maintain public safety in the wake of Grenfell.
Instead, they have drawn up a list of the buildings that need urgent checks, because of the nature of the risks found in the audit.
![Surgeons and medical staff during an operation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170630073330im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/0/8/b/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwzz92.png/1498634150771.jpg)
Neither the council nor NHS Improvement - the watchdog which carried out the exercise - would name the sites or provide details of the findings.
The NFCC said: "From a national perspective, the primary focus has been on residential tower blocks with similar characteristics to Grenfell Tower. To date, 38 priority NHS sites have been identified, with nine sites at greater risk. This is due to these presenting the greatest risk when considering both cladding and the fire risk assessment."
![Police at the entrance of an apartment block in Wuppertal, Germany.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170630073330im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/z/z/2/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwzz92.png/1498634150771.jpg)
An NHS Improvement spokesman said: "Fire safety should be an absolute priority for the NHS. That's why we are checking with all NHS providers of care in England that they have identified any risks and are taking any action necessary - both in terms of cladding specifically, but also on fire risks more broadly."
Sir David Behan, head of the Care Quality Commission, instructed NHS organisations to carry out an immediate review the fabric and size of all registered premises, following the Grenfell disaster.
![Workers remove cladding from Whitebeam Court, in Pendleton, Manchester, on Monday.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170630073330im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/0/8/d/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwzz92.png/1498634150771.jpg)
Five NHS trusts are currently subject to enforcement notices because they have been found to be failing basic fire standards.
Other trusts have been warned that failure to properly "compartmentalise" areas could put patients at "intolerable risk" if fire broke out, Health Service Journal reported.
![Residents of Dorney tower block on the Chalcots Estate, London, are evacuated from their flat.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170630073330im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/0/8/c/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwzz92.png/1498634150771.jpg)
Last year Cambridge University Hospitals foundation trust was warned over a lack of progress addressing the problem, with engineers saying: "The means of escape provisions are inadequate."
Edinburgh Napier University is removing cladding from one of its residential halls after it was found to be the same type said to have been used on Grenfell Tower. The university said cladding on around a quarter of the building is being removed as a precaution. The building has not been evacuated.
![A block on the Chalcots Estate had the lower cladding removed over the weekend.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170630073330im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/0/8/c/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwzz92.png/1498634150771.jpg)
Meanwhile cities across Europe are examining fire safety. On Tuesday an 11-storey apartment block in Wuppertal, Germany, was evacuated because its exterior insulation was similar to materials that allowed the deadly London fire, and its escape routes were too close to the facade, making them useless in the event of a fire.
German media reported that at least 70 other buildings would be tested in Wuppertal alone.
One resident told local TV broadcaster WDR: "Perhaps something will finally happen now. Usually there's just talk and no action."
US firm Arconic said it was stopping global sales of its Reynobond PE cladding, which was used in Grenfell Tower, for use in high-rise buildings.
Telegraph, London; Reuters
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