Police are hunting "utterly deplorable" burglars who stole laptops from a Derbyshire hospital and ripped televisions off walls.
The intruders targeted the Royal Derby hospital overnight on Monday in the world-leading Pulvertaft hand centre outpatients’ unit.
The damage forced the paediatric treatment area, the central therapy treatment area and several patient cubicles to shut on Tuesday.
Derbyshire Police has launched an investigation and no arrests have been made.
Four laptops were stolen and televisions were broken after being pulled off wales, University hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS trust said.
A spokesperson said the burglary also caused a water bath to leak in the therapy area, causing flooding.
Gavin Boyle, the trust’s chief executive, said it was “very upsetting and disheartening” for NHS staff fighting the coronavirus crisis in the hospital, where 401 people have died after contracting Covd-19.
He said the trust takes a “zero tolerance approach” to theft and is working with police to establish the culprits.
Inspector Keith Chambers said: “The targeted burglary of a hospital is sickening at any time – but with the current pressures the NHS faces is utterly deplorable.
“The service the Kings treatment centre provides is absolutely critical to our community and I have no doubt there are people out there with information about those responsible for this act.”
