Hospital tunnel intruders reported to police

Police are investigating footage which appears to show an urban explorer entering tunnels underneath a hospital.

Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust said it had reported the online videos of the incident at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield.

The social media account behind the footage posted it on Sunday, and claimed the access they gained to the site amounted to "a big security breach".

But the trust said the tunnel serves an administrative building, not the main hospital. It added additional measures had been put in place to "prevent further unauthorised access".

"We are aware that a member of the public accessed a restricted area of the Pinderfields Hospital grounds and subsequently shared video footage online," said Chris Evans, deputy chief executive at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust.

"Although the footage may give the impression that the main hospital was accessed, the individuals entered an administrative building on the wider hospital grounds and did not gain access to the main hospital."

He said there was an "immediate investigation" and inspection of the area to make sure there was no damage to infrastructure and no impact on patient care or safety.

Evans added: "The incident has been reported to West Yorkshire Police who are now investigating."

It follows a similar incident in which men appeared to break into Wakefield's County Hall , which was also shared by an urban exploration account. They referred to the council-owned building as "abandoned" - yet it is still in use.

Pinderfields Hospital opened in 2010 as a replacement for Pinderfields General Hospital.

The £250m site is home to one of the only specialist spinal injury units in the UK, and also treats burns patients from across Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

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