KEY POINTS:
Services at North Shore Hospital are almost back to normal after a faulty pipe valve burst, causing chaos for staff and patients who were forced to evacuate several areas of the building.
A heating pipe flooded the hospital's emergency department, before flowing through to radiology and into the outpatient section at about 8.30am.
A North Shore Hospital spokeswoman said this afternoon initial investigations showed there was a problem with the valve on the pipe that building contractors were working on.
The spokeswoman the flooding had stopped and the clean-up of most of the affected areas was now complete, she said.
She said quick actions of staff meant no patients or staff were hurt during the flooding.
"However one of the contractors received minor superficial hot water burns, which have been treated."
At least eight fire engines and a command unit were stationed by the hospital's main entrance and some patients were this morning standing outside wrapped in blankets.
Staff diverted ambulances from the hospital's Emergency Care Centre (ECC) to Waitakere Hospital's ECC for the majority of the day.
The hospital was accepting surgical, orthopaedic and gynaecological patients who had been referred by GPs and needed to travel by ambulance, she said.
Medical patients were still being diverted to Waitakere but ambulance traffic was expected to return to normal at 5pm, she said.
Outpatient appointments resumed as per normal at midday and patients whose appointments were cancelled in the morning would be rescheduled with high priority, she said.
Radiology services remained limited for the time being but general film and ultrasound services continued, she said.
All heating and cooling systems had been fully restored.
- with NZPA
