Questions are being asked about the future of the current Royal Liverpool Hospital, with the new hospital set to finally open later this year.
The old Royal building opened in 1978 and has served the city ever since - despite ongoing infrastructure problems.
In 2010, official government approval was given for a new state-of-the-art hospital to replace the increasingly dilapidated Royal, which then Health Secretary Andy Burnham described as a 'little piece of Eastern Europe.'
READ MORE: Update on the timeline of when new Royal Liverpool hospital will open
Carillion won the contract for the build in 2013, with a plan to have the new 650-bed facility up and running four years later.
What happened next is well documented, as the outsourcing giant collapsed into administration, leaving the new hospital build unfinished - along with many other projects across the country.
Eventually, the Private Finance Initiative that had been used to fund the project was torn up and it was announced in 2018 that public money would be used to complete the building.
Five years and various further issues later and Liverpool is still without its new hospital - although finally there is light at the end of the tunnel.
The Liverpool University Hospitals Trust is hopeful that the new site will be able to finally open later this year.
But major questions remain about what will happen to the huge, unsightly current Royal building when the new facility finally opens its doors.
When the new build plans were first announced, the Trust stated: "Once (the new hospital) is constructed, our existing hospital will be demolished.
"In its place, there are plans to develop a world-class health campus, as well as landscaping green space, roughly the size of Chavasse Park."
There was also talk of plans for a new underground car park on the site.
But since the collapse of Carillion and subsequent issues and delays, we have heard very little about this aspect of the plan.
In January 2020, two years after Carillion's collapse, a report from the National Audit Office, projected the overall costs of the new Royal could tip over the £1.1 billion mark.
It also commented on the plans for the old building, stating: "Further work to demolish the old hospital and create a new underground car park and public plaza, was not included in the PFI project and is currently unfunded.
"The cost of this was not included in the PFI project and is currently estimated at £38 million."
The ECHO has been asking the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust for an update on the situation regarding the old Royal building, with the new one now on course to open later in the year.
As yet, no response has been forthcoming from the trust.
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