Nelson Hospital was reliant on backup batteries for "critical systems" for around an hour on Thursday morning after backup generators failed.
Health New Zealand Te Waipounamu executive regional director, Pete Watson, says critical systems were kept running by a backup battery.
“No patients were impacted.”
He says Nelson Hospital has a series of safeguards to protect against power outages. These include an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) system which maintains power to our most critical services, such as theatres and ICU. The UPS system worked as expected during Wednesday’s outage.
"No patients were harmed during the power outage and everyone remained safe throughout. There were no patients in our operating theatres during the outage.
"We have robust protocols in place to manage ongoing emergency care during these kinds of events. We thank our staff for following these plans quickly and calmly to ensure the safest possible outcome for patients.
"While the UPS system activated immediately, we are currently investigating why the generator did not provide backup power immediately, and identifying measures to ensure this does not recur in the future.
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack says she was alerted to the outage early this morning and immediately contacted ministers and mayors to ensure a plan was in place to resolve the issue and get power restored.
“This is a deeply concerning incident and shouldn’t have happened. I am relieved that no patients came to harm as a result of the backup power failing at Nelson Hospital this morning.”
Pete says Nelson Hospital is currently running on generator supply while the network power is being re-established.
“I am grateful to the Minister for Emergency Management for acting quickly and keeping me informed about progress to restore power,” Rachel says.
“The Government have serious questions to ask about their planned partial rebuild, which fails to include upgrades of the ICU, emergency department and theatres.
“The people of Nelson need reassurance that this won’t happen again.”
“I want to acknowledge the efforts of staff who worked to keep patients safe during this time,” Pete adds.
"We are also grateful that staff who were on planned strikes, came to assist in line with our emergency protocols, and we want to thank them."
