The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Hospital forced to close due to water shortage
All planned surgeries and outpatient appointments at Peterborough City Hospital were cancelled on Monday and A&E patients diverted to other hospitals due to “severe water supply issues.”
A ‘critical internal incident’ was declared by the hospital on Monday and a sign telling patients the hospital was closed went up outside the front door, with chief executive Stephen Graves apologising for the inconvenience.
The hospital was stood down from the critical internal incident at 2.15pm on Monday after the water supply and pressure had been restored to all areas across the site.
A spokesperson for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough City Hospital, said on Monday: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our patients, visitors and staff and we are very grateful for the level of understanding and cooperation shown.”
Mr Graves also took to Twitter to thank Hinchingbrooke Hospital, which is also run by the trust, for looking after diverted A&E patients.
He said: “Big thanks to our staff @HinchHospital for helping care for diverted emergency patients while we battled our water supply issues @PboroCityHosp today. Excellent team work all round.”
The only procedures which took place on Monday were those of a life, limb or sight saving nature. Visitation was also stopped due to the problems.
Anglian Water said one of the hospital’s pipes had burst, and not its own, but that it was connecting an overground pipe from one of it its own water mains into the hospital to bypass the burst.
Yesterday, two days after the event, a hospital spokeswoman said the cause of the fault was still unknown.
This winter the hospital has been under “unprecedented strain,” according to its chief operating officer, with a 10 per cent increase in patients from November 2017 to February 2018 compared to the same period 12 months earlier.
Ambulances have also been seen queuing outside the hospital, while a shortage of beds has seen “escalation areas” for patients opened up.
The region’s ambulance service lost more than 800 hours in December from handing over patients at the hospital.
Moreover, the hospital’s emergency lead consultant, Dr Athar Yasin, co-signed a letter to Theresa May alongside consultants in charge of emergency care at 67 other hospitals, warning of “intolerable” safety compromises across the country.