UPDATE: Portsmouth hospital reopens emergency department following power failure

A major incident was declared at the QA earlier this morning (Monday 5th)

Author: Ryan BurrowsPublished 5th Aug 2024
Last updated 5th Aug 2024

A Portsmouth hospital has reopened its emergency department and scaled back a major incident following a massive power failure this morning (Monday 5th).

The Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust had closed access to A&E for new patients following the outage, which was first reported at just before 8am.

The issue meant that phone lines in and out of the building were unable to be used.

In a statement, bosses said they had been able to restore power to much of the building and have stepped down from a major incident to an 'internal critical incident'.

Those with outpatient appointments are being told to attend them as usual unless they have heard from the hospital.

A spokesperson for the Trust said:

"We have had to cancel a small number of procedures this morning, but our teams are working hard to safely continue carrying as many of these out as possible.

"We expect to see some delays as services are coming back online so ask for your patience and understanding while our teams work to do this.

"Our phone lines are still having some issues, and we will share an update when these are fully back. We are also having issues with the card readers in our car parks so have suspended payment for today (Monday 5 August).

"Visitors are welcome to attend the hospital as normal."

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