Surgery cancelled as hospital limps through power cut

By MARTIN JOHNSTON


Operations were cancelled, lights dimmed and lifts stopped working at Auckland City Hospital on Monday when its mains electricity supply was temporarily cut.

The hospital's main building was inexplicably disconnected from the mains supply about 1pm. Back-up generators, which are meant to take over almost immediately, failed to do so for 10 minutes.

In the meantime the super-hospital had to limp along on its emergency battery supply as acute health services were shifted from the old National Women's Hospital.

The batteries can supply the hospital for up to four hours, depending on demand, but are restricted mainly to critical clinical equipment, about one-third of the hospital's normal lights, plus emergency lighting for the rest of the building.

The management has ordered an investigation into what went wrong.

A surgeon told yesterday of having the rest of his operating list cancelled after the disruption. "The concern is that if a small power failure causes the hospital to grind to a halt, what would happen in a regional disaster?"

But general manager Nigel Murray said the hospital did not come to a halt, no one was harmed, and while the cause of the problem was still being investigated, the response went according to plan.

"The staff responded well and as per the emergency procedures.

"I suspended the migration of National Women's Hospital for about an hour until we came back on to the [mains] grid. The neonatal intensive care unit had their babies in there and they were fine."

Another doctor said the hospital became "dark in certain areas".

Dr Murray said he had received reports it had become "a little too dark" in some places. However, he said that did not happen in theatres or wards.

When the 18 elevators stopped working, those needing lifts had to use the eight in the old hospital building next door, which is linked to the new hospital by an air bridge.

He said some of the 10 people whose non-urgent surgery was cancelled would be rescheduled in a day or two, but others might have to wait several weeks.

"I decided to postpone elective surgery for the rest of the day ... to take pressure off the sterile supply service [which sterilises surgical instruments]."

But there were enough sterilised instruments to continue acute surgery.

Some of the equipment used to suck fluids out of patients was not connected to the emergency battery supply, so had to be replaced by portable suction devices with their own batteries.

Dr Murray said the fault might lie in the switching room.

"Until we know what happened in the switching room we don't know if the computers were responding to the change in voltage appropriately or not, but we are pretty confident they were."

He said power supply security at the site would be enhanced by a Meridian Energy-financed $5 million gas-fired "co-generation" plant being built.

What was affected

Some areas became too dark when the lights dimmed.

Non-urgent surgery for 10 patients was postponed.

The 18 lifts stopped working.

Sterilisation of surgical instruments was delayed.