An independent board set up to provide assurance that healthcare in Jersey is safe has raised “serious concerns” following the forced closures of hospital theatres and high temperatures on wards due to this week’s heatwave.

The chair of the Health and Care Jersey Advisory Board said that it was “very concerning” that a key reason for soaring temperatures at the Hospital was the state of its electrics – which kept tripping due to the network being overloaded.

Carolyn Downs said she was concerned that, with increasing episodes of extreme weather predicted, this week’s “very unfortunate” set of circumstances would happen again, until the new acute hospital opened at Overdale.

This week, Health announced that it was having to postpone around 200 elective operations because it had been forced to close three of the Hospital’s seven theatres for at least a fortnight.

Medical director Simon West said: “While this is not a major incident, it does highlight the challenges that can arise in an ageing hospital facility, particularly during periods of unusually warm weather.”

Reporting to the board, Andy Weir, who has recently been appointed managing director of Health and Care Services, said that – in addition to the theatres, which were waiting for replacement chiller parts, which should arrive next week – other parts of the Hospital had been impacted by electrical overload.

“A limiting factor has been where we can plug in because extra air-conditioning units have tripped the electricity,” he said.

“We have been working closely with our electricians so as not to overload the network. We have also supplied fans, ice pops, and regular drinks to patients to make sure they are cool and hydrated.”

Mr Weir added that while Health was grateful for people who had offered to supply fans, the issue was not having enough of them, but rather the inability to plug them in.

He added that the Hospital did have business continuity plans for extreme heat, which had been enacted, and a meeting was scheduled for next week to identify what had worked well and where lessons could be learned.

Ms Downs thanked Health staff for helping patients in difficult conditions and apologised to islanders who had been inconvenienced.