NUH said the building's water system, which is being completed by Integrated Health Projects, was still to meet rigorous safety and quality standards.

Paul Matthew, chief financial officer and executive senior responsible officer for the NRC at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), said: ‘Once the work on the water system has been completed, our NUH teams will then need a mobilisation period to prepare to move our first patients into the NRC and therefore this will likely now be in the dpring.

‘We are disappointed and frustrated by this delay as we are operationally ready to move into the building, but we know that once we are open to our first patients, the NRC will be vital in delivering life-changing rehabilitation for patients in the East Midlands and beyond.'

Additional rehabilitation beds have been opened at Queen's Medical Centre to support the wider cohort of patients to be treated at the NRC.