Hospital declares major incident and warns patients to stay away from A&E
A hospital in Portsmouth has declared a major incident and has closed its A&E department to new admissions following a ‘serious loss of power’.
Queen Alexandra Hospital has advised patients to avoid A&E after the loss of power was reported shortly after 7am this morning.
A spokesperson for the hospital’s NHS Trust said: ‘As a result of an unexpected serious loss of power, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has declared a Major Incident at Queen Alexandra Hospital.
‘The hospital is safe and our staff are working hard to continue providing care for patients already with us, but we have made the decision to close to new attendances to our Emergency Department.
‘Patients with a serious medical condition must phone NHS 111 or 999 in an Emergency and not attend the QA Hospital Emergency Department.
‘Phone lines and switchboard are also affected, so you will not be able to call into or receive calls from the hospital at this time.’
Work is underway to try and restore power to the hospital as soon as possible.
The spokesperson for the NHS Trust added: ‘We expect some services will be affected today and there may be some cancellations, but please continue to attend unless you have been contacted or updated through us directly or our website/social media.’
Another hospital declared a major incident in November 2023 after severe flooding led to loss of power.
The maternity ward at Blackpool Victoria Hospital suffered a complete blackout.
Mothers and babies were moved to other parts of the hospital after they were forced to evacuate away from the women and children’s unit.
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