Hospital stands down heatwave critical incident

A hospital trust has stood down a critical incident that was declared during the recent heatwave.

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust declared the status at Queen Alexandra Hospital on Wednesday after extreme heat caused several chiller units to fail.

This led to high temperatures in clinical areas, including operating theatres and diagnostic scanning facilities, and required the temporary postponement of some planned procedures.

The trust said the critical incident had now been stood down after engineers repaired the equipment and restored full cooling capacity.

Lee McPhail, the trust's chief delivery officer, said the heatwave and equipment failures had created "a highly challenging environment" for the hospital.

"We are very sorry to patients whose appointments or planned procedures were disrupted," he said.

"Our teams are working hard to contact everyone affected and rearrange their care as a priority."

McPhail thanked staff across the hospital for their efforts to keep services safe and running.

The trust said the hospital remained under pressure, with a growing number of patients needing emergency care.

It asked people to help by choosing the right service for their needs, helping free up beds where possible, staying safe in the heat and attending appointments as planned unless contacted directly.