<P> In 1938 the three hospitals, alongside smaller specialist hospitals (including St Paul's Eye Hospital on Old Hall Street)--had administratively merged under the Royal Liverpool United Hospitals group, and it had long been agreed to eventually amalgamate the separate facilities on a central site within close proximity to the University of Liverpool for the purposes of medical education and research . By 1948, the site on which the current Royal now stands (on Prescot Street); was identified for this centralisation as part of the post-war regeneration of Liverpool . However, building on the main hospital did not commence until 1963 . The Royal Liverpool University Hospital was designed and constructed by Holford Associates, between 1963 and 1965 . Its construction was plagued from the outset by problems of cost, time and quality, together with difficulties over fire certification due to changes in health and safety law whilst building work was ongoing . Eventually, the hospital opened in 1978 . </P> <P> On 10 March 1975, ITV's World in Action aired a special film of a 24 - hour shift in the A&E department of the Royal Southern Hospital, one of the three Liverpool city centre hospitals that existed prior to 1978 - the year the RLUH superseded it . The footage documents a typical Saturday night in the casualty department, which the staff call the' Blood and Guts Shift' . Although the patient presentations to the department remains largely unchanged - with alcohol intoxication, brawls and mental health problems being the overarching theme; there is a stark contrast in both culture and practice to the modern NHS which the film encapsulates . Examples include the department only possessing a very small number of beds and the night shift being staffed by only one sister and an anaesthestist, with access being restricted by a locked door . Other footage records the anaesthestist attempting to intubate a conscious and gagging patient who has presented with an overdose; and infection control and manual handling practices by nursing staff being radically different from what is now considered standard practice . </P> <P> In December 2013 the landmark £ 429 million redevelopment of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital reached financial close; its collaborative links with the University of Liverpool, and institutes on the Liverpool BioCampus, have given the city of Liverpool recognition as one of the leading UK centres for health research and innovation . The new Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which was designed by NBBJ and HKS and is being built by Carillion, is expected to be the largest all single - patient room hospital in the UK on completion in 2018 . The New Royal is expected to open in the Summer of 2018 . </P> <P> In 2007, the Healthcare Commission rated Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust "Good" for' Quality of Services' and Good for' Use of Resources' . In 2009, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust was rated "Excellent" for the quality of its services and the quality of its financial management . </P>

When does the new royal liverpool hospital open