Patient's grandson buys 200 bottles of water to help ease hospital leak crisis
Hospital back to normal but businesses still affected
Last updated 5th Feb 2018
The grandson of a patient being treated in a Manchester hospital hit by a major water leak dug deep to help ease the crisis.
Marcus McCluskey, 23, spent three hours visiting Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital on Sunday night to deliver 200 bottles of water.
A fourth hospital, Saint Mary's, was also affected.
Mr McCluskey said: My grandmother has been treated at Manchester Royal since July 2017 and a few hundred bottles of water is nothing to ensure that the hard working staff and most seriously ill patients have access to water.
The wards were doing everything they could, they had given all patients a individual bottle of water and were trying to source more.
It was just a bad situation made worse by local supermarkets being closed on a Sunday.''
Mr McCluskey, an emergency medical dispatcher for North West Ambulance Service born in Manchester, bought the water from Tesco Express, on Ardwick Green, and Sainsbury's Local at Piccadilly Station.
Staff at the outlets helped him load his car and a Sainsbury's assistant store manager contributed £10 towards the cost, before he made the mercy mission - finishing his delivery at 11pm.
Mr McCluskey split the supply of water between adult accident and emergency, child accident and emergency, neonatal and paediatric intensive care units, the birthing suite, and the ward where his grandmother is being treated.
Manchester's hospitals have confirmed their water supply's been restored - after burst water mains caused them to cancel all non urgent operations this morning...
Patients booked in for procedures and outpatient appointments this afternoon are now being told to turn up AS NORMAL
But while the hospitals might be getting back to normal it is bad news for some businesses in the area..
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said cancer operations would take place as planned, along with any urgent procedures.
The trust said it was contacting patients and that operations would be rescheduled as soon as possible''.
All outpatient services will be running as usual on Monday and anyone with an appointment has been told to attend it as planned.
John Martin, spokesman for United Utilities which provides water to the hospitals, said bowsers were brought in on Saturday to maintain supplies.
He said the pipe was repaired on Sunday evening and the service was operating as normal.
He said: All hospitals within the affected area did have water during the course of the repair work but we respect any decision made by the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust should they feel the need to make changes to their schedules.'
There were further problems with the another burst on Moss Lane East in Rusholme.
This was the scene earlier this morning
United Utilities are working to fix a leak there --which has flooded Barclays bank and surrounding roads --- AND forced some businesses to close.
United Utilities have been working throughout the night on Oxford Road to fix the problem but have since found another issue on Moss Lane East:
United Utilities are keeping their website updated with the latest developments. Follow it here.