Major incident at Southampton Hospital Power cut.

[HelenaDove]

www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/17261042.live-major-incident-declared-at-southampton-hospital-after-power-black-out/?ref=appshr

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1051471/Southampton-hospitals-major-incident

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said all patients were safe but all non-urgent activity had been cancelled. He said: "University Hospital Southampton has suffered a major power cut and has declared a major incident. All patients in Southampton General and the Princess Anne hospitals are safe. "All non-urgent activity is cancelled at present. Please do not attend the hospital for non-urgent care such as outpatients, routine X-rays or blood tests

"We are asking relatives not to visit the UHS until further notice. Staff are busy caring at present and we would further ask you not to call switchboard if possible.

"The emergency department is closed for all except urgent emergencies.

"We will keep you informed as the day goes on and are grateful for your support at present and apologise to those whose care is now delayed."

Firefighters deal with a small blaze in a rear room.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue spokesman, Simon Carr, said: "We were called to Southampton General Hospital at 08:41.

"Seven engines and support vehicles were on the scene. The incident was a fire in an electrical room caused by an overloaded inverter.

"Two sets of breathing apparatus, two jets and fire extinguishers were used."

One person, who wished not to be named, said: "The place is in complete darkness, there are no lights and there is no power.

"The backup generators haven't started and people are walking around with torches." Another person said: "There is a major incident going on at the Southampton General Hospital and there is no power and the backup generators have failed to start.

"There are hardly any lights on."

More to follow.

i wonder how long NHS computers take to reboot

Hello Dove.
Thanks for the info.
Just had a power cut where I live, back on now.
It has reminded me to make sure I am prepared for power cuts this winter, candles, torches, battery radio, fully charged up spare mobile phone battery etc.
Any good ideas on this thread?.

The article says hte generators did not kick in which is of course dereadful as a baby in an incubator could die never mind all the other people. This is very bad and something has gone very wrong if the backup generators did not start.

Op, how much time do you spend thinking about power cuts?

Just to let everyone know, the water will be turned off again tomorrow at The royal hospital for children in Glsgow.

Looks like we are sharing things like this! So no hair washing can be done. Well I mean I guess you could use bottled water. But at least they could still use hair dryers.

An incubator will hold heat for a while. Stick a transwarmer (chemically activated heated mattress) under every baby and that will help for longer. Bubble wrap on the babies, and fleeces over the incubators. Not ideal but would work pretty well. And the staffing ratios for the sicker babies mean that there would be enough staff to ventilate by hand if need be. I remember when year 2000 dawned, and no one was quite sure if the ventilators were really Y2K bug proof. The plan was to bag the babies until they could be fixed, if need be. They worked fine.

The end is nigh.... I am donning my tin foil hat

Did have a panic (briefly!) When I saw this- the hospital l work in had to go on lockdown and was closed last week as one of my colleagues was stabbed .A few hours of no power is of course of concern, but not a 'major incident'.

Actually I think it's a highly unusual situation and thus probably warrants a thread. How scary that the back up power also failed!!

I don't know why people are being so sarky, it's a pretty big deal! And just serves to reinforce that there are a lot of issues with many of our existing infrastructures.

It hasn’t even been confirmed that the generators failed!

I think people need to stop being so dramatic about this. The hospital will be well versed in electricity failures and have procedures that kick into place.

Not to mention the back up generators will be concentrated in the most necessary areas they won’t supply the whole hospital.

@cjt110
If you shine a torch at your hat you'll light up the room. No power cut worries for you.

I've worked in a hospital before where we had to evacuate the NIcU due to a fire and couldn't take the ventilators with us. Literally scooped up babies and ran. Was a long time ago. We took bag and masks for the ones who needed it and hand ventilated.

Marsden hospital had similar due to their massive fire a few years ago and I dont believe there were any fatalities amongst the adult patients. Nhs staff do tend to work well in a crisis.

I've known an operation be finished in torchlight before with water pouring through the ceiling and staff holding sterile drapes over the table to keep the water off the patient while telling the surgeon to hurry up and close as the water rose round everyone's ankles.....not kidding the thestre was nearly a foot deep in water and the adjoining labour ward was evacuated.

Thanks OP. I head this on the news. I believe hospital is closed as is A&E. Not sure what happens if you have an emergency. Maybe Winchester? It will be horrendously busy though.

Helena posts all the time, she's not some sort of powercut fetishist ffs

They have said that the generators failed Nicknacky.

OP, I’m with you about this making me anxious.

CaMePlaitPas Up there for thinking, down there for dancing

spotting Who said that? All I read was that two anon sources said that it appeared they had failed.

What a strange first few posts. We often discuss stuff like this on here. And yes I recognise the op as a regular not some strange power cut troll.

This is what the hospital said to a local radio station earlier today:

A spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said:

“Following the major incident declared at University Hospital Southampton earlier this morning in relation to a power cut, we have identified the cause of the problem – an electrical cable fault – which has now been temporarily resolved.

“The restrictions put in place around appointments and visiting, in addition to cancellations, remain in place for now as we carry out further maintenance but we will provide further updates throughout the day.

“We would like to thank our patients, staff and members of the public, as well as our partner organisations including neighbouring hospitals, for their support during this period of disruption.

“We wish to reassure relatives that all of our patients are safe, have been reviewed by staff and continue to receive the care they require. Our theatres and intensive care units remain open, however, we will not resume non-urgent surgery until we are confident there will be no further power issues.”

A friend of mine is in there having cancer surgery tomorrow
it will go fine
the General is a big place, it will cope

I’m nowhere near the area. A back up generator failing in a hospital is pretty scary stuff. I don’t understand the comments.

I mean struggling to work out how this can possibly be classed as a 'major incident'
Because in a hospital a fire followed by a power outage is likely to cause problems with safety critical systems. Everything from life support to telephones. A previous postert has suggested that the backup generators failed to start; that alone would make this already serious situation even worse.

The General does not have "a back up generator" its effectively got a power plant
it has multiple buildings spread over a huge site

the live coverage in the local paper website has had to be edited MASSES during the day when it became clear they were reporting cobblers at times

in a few weeks we will know what happened

Why are people being so pissy?
People start threads, about everything. Nothing wrong with Helena starting it.