The hospital’s operating theatres are back up and running after air con units failed during last month’s heatwave, Health has confirmed three weeks later.
Three of the hospital’s seven theatres were temporarily closed due to issues with a chilled water unit on the roof of the hospital.
More than 80 affected – but fewer than expected
Although emergency, urgent and maternity care carried on as normal, more than 80 patients were affected by the disruption – although this was fewer than the 25-a-day which Health first feared could be impacted.
Providing an update three weeks after the exceptionally hot weather, Medical Director Simon West said: “I would like to begin by recognising the exceptional efforts of our colleagues across Health and Care Jersey, who worked tirelessly and flexibly to maintain services and minimise disruption for patients throughout this period.
“At the time, I stated that emergency, urgent and maternity care would continue to run as normal, and that patient safety remained our highest priority. I also indicated during interviews that around 20–25 patients could have been impacted per day.
“Thanks to the swift and coordinated work of our teams, we were able to implement an effective local solution more quickly than first anticipated, allowing theatre activity to resume sooner.”
Theatre activity back to “normal”
“More recently, the damaged chilled water unit has been replaced with a new unit that has been shipped in and installed, restoring resilience to the system. Theatre activity has already returned to normal, with both urgent and planned procedures continuing as expected. A permanent long-term solution remains in progress and is in hand.”
Mr West added that, during this period, all urgent cases were performed when staff were able to return to normal routine work last week through the interim solution, which he added meant that patients did not have to wait longer than necessary.
He said: “A total of 83 patients – requiring routine, non-urgent procedures – were affected, far fewer than initially anticipated due to the incredible work of our teams. All patients were contacted directly as quickly as possible, have been rescheduled and offered new dates.
“Our priority throughout has been to maintain patient safety and minimise disruption, and I am confident we have achieved that while recovering services quickly and safely.
“These kinds of issues can occur in older facilities, particularly during periods of extreme weather, and we are grateful to Islanders for their patience and understanding.
“I would also like to sincerely thank all colleagues involved, from those resolving the technical issue to clinical and support teams maintaining patient care. Their commitment ensured that disruption was kept to an absolute minimum.”