By Stacey Bodger
TAURANGA - Patients were sponge-bathed and toilet flushes were restricted yesterday as Tauranga Hospital began water rationing to try to beat the millennium bug.
To avoid possible disaster at the end of the year, the hospital is running a series of exercises to see if it can cope without
outside power and water supplies.
In June, it disconnected from electricity and practised running on fuel-powered generators.
Tomorrow morning it will end 48 hours of water rationing to find how much water the hospital needs for core services such as its kitchen, laboratories, radiology department and patient hygiene.
Pacific Health's risk management coordinator, Robert Patton, hoped the hospital could save 20 to 30 per cent of its usual water usage, around 215 cu m a day.
Staff were asked not to run water while soaping their hands and not to flush the toilet every time it was used.
Patients were told of the exercise but apart from being sponge-bathed instead of showering, they were cared for normally.
Mr Patton said the hospital would be disconnected from the national electricity grid and water supplies in September as a full trial.
It planned to run independently from midnight on December 31.
"We're using a worst case scenario to make sure we can cope with the failure of any system.
"It's not just for the millennium either - given the past power and water crises in Auckland, it's a threat to any hospital and we want to be prepared."
Water rationing is also planned at Whakatane Hospital, which will disconnect from services along with Tauranga Hospital in September.
