Water supply back to normal at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley

Services have returned to normal at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley after dozens of operations were cancelled due to a problem with the water supply.

Elective surgery for 84 patients on Thursday and Friday was postponed and emergency patients were diverted to other hospitals over a problem with discoloured water thought to have been caused by a build-up of sediment in the Renfrewshire hospital's water tanks.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the tanks have been cleaned out continuously over the last 24 hours with clean water supplied from tankers drafted in by Scottish Water.

Tankers are to continue to supply tap water to the hospital over the weekend while bottled water will be supplied to patients and staff for drinking.

The mains supply is expected to return to use on Monday.

Linda de Caestecker, NHSGGC director of public health, said: We wish to thank our staff and patients for their patience and understanding over the last few days.

Patient and public safety has been central to all our activities during this water quality issue.

Once we are satisfied that the mains supply meets the requirements of ourselves and Scottish Water, we will reconnect and lift the current tap water drinking restrictions.''

Scottish Water chief operating officer Peter Farrer said: We have been working very closely with NHSGGC.

We have carried out extensive flushing of the hospital's internal water network, cleaned the internal tanks and carried out extensive sampling and analysis.

As the hospital returns to normal working, we will continue to monitor the situation going forward, working alongside the health board.

We would like to thank all staff, patients and visitors for their patience and understanding while we worked with the hospital and health board to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.''

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