Emergency declared at University Hospital Crosshouse near Kilmarnock following power cut

An emergency was declared at a hospital in Ayrshire following a power cut.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran confirmed that power supply to University Hospital Crosshouse was disrupted in the early hours of Sunday morning.

An emergency response was implemented at the hospital, based near Kilmarnock, following the cut.

Power at the hospital has now been fully restored, the health board have said.

And there has not been any concerns identified in relation to patient safety or patient harm, it added.

There was an interruption to the power supply at University Hospital Crosshouse in the early hours of this morning (Sun 6 March). The power is restored & contingency plans helped minimise the impact on patients & ensure patient safety. More here: https://t.co/i7yuqtmij2
— NHS Ayrshire & Arran (@NHSaaa) March 6, 2022

In a statement, Dr Crawford McGuffie, medical director at the board, indicated that the emergency response was “swiftly mounted” following the disruption to the power supply.

He said: “There was an interruption to the power supply at University Hospital Crosshouse in the early hours of this morning.

“An emergency response was swiftly mounted in keeping with emergency planning arrangements both from a clinical and infrastructure perspective. The power has now been fully restored.

“We have worked closely with the Health and Social Care Partnerships and our partners in the overnight period including the Scottish Ambulance Service, NHS 24, and NHS Lanarkshire.

“We’d like to thank our partners for their invaluable support as we worked together to resolve this issue. Contingency plans have been in place to minimise any disruption and ensure safety of patients.”

Dr McGuffie explained that the recovery of administrative systems has placed additional pressures on services.

“There have been no concerns identified in relation to patient safety or patient harm,” he said.

Our Emergency Departments at both University Hospital Crosshouse and University Hospital Ayr remain operational as do our Combined Assessment units on both sites.

“The recovery of the administrative systems have placed additional pressures on services and we ask our citizens to be understanding if they have had to access services in a different way during this time or have been impacted otherwise.

“Our emergency departments are busy this morning, so please only attend if you require emergency care.

“Otherwise there may be services that can treat you quicker and closer to home – call NHS 24 on 111 for advice on the best way to access appropriate care.”