Roughly six miles of steel and wooden props will soon hold up the roof of a crumbling Norfolk hospital - with the number set to eclipse 3,000 in months.

With the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn edging closer and closer to the end of its life, efforts continue to be made to protect it from collapse.

The recent months have seen more and more props installed to "failsafe" the hospital roof, with just shy of 2,500 currently in use.

And hospital bosses say the next phase of failsafing will see that number grow again - to 3,397 once work is complete in its Windsor ward.

With the props spanning from floor to ceiling at the hospital, it would mean the props could potentially span more than six miles in length - roughly the distance from the hospital to the Sandringham Estate.

The new figure also means that once works in the ward are complete the hospital will have six times as many props as it has beds.

Nichola Hunter, acting director of estates at the QEH, said: “We are continuing to address the challenges with our building and RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete) and to maximise safety.

“The number of support props has significantly increased to 2,482 following planned work to install steel and timber support props in Castleacre ward as part of our rolling three year failsafe installation programme.

"We now have more than four times more props than beds – and are the most propped hospital in the country.

“The number of props will increase again to 3,397 when work is completed in Windsor ward over the coming months.

"Both wards will then become the two main decant wards as our rolling programme to install failsafes across the whole of the first floor of the hospital progresses.”

The developments pile even more weight behind calls to rebuild the hospital - days after prime minister Liz Truss refused to make any promises over funding the project.

Liberal Democrat county councillor Rob Colwell has called for "a decision now and boots on the ground".

He said: "This is a disaster waiting to happen.

"It is national scandal that successive health ministers - four in 15 months - have not even bothered to replace dangerous roofs which put patients and staff at risk.

"They come and visit, stare at the ceiling, have a photo, go back to London and do nothing."