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A major incident has been stood down at the Bristol Royal Infirmary after two fires broke out yesterday. Dozens of patients had to be moved so they would not be treated in the dark following yesterday’s major incident (Friday May 3).
At the time, the NHS trust which runs the hospital asked patients to stay away and seek help elsewhere until the issues were resolved. The warning came in as seven fire engines were called in to the BRI to deal with the mid afternoon fires.
At the time, Avon Fire and Rescue Service said a fire had been reported on the second floor of the hospital with a second one being discovered after crews entered the hospital. Patients and staff were evacuated from emergency departments, with patients wrapped in blankets sitting outside of the building.
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At around 3.30pm University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS issued an internal critical incident. It said: “We have declared an internal critical incident due to a power outage affecting a number of our hospitals in Bristol city centre. We are asking the public not to attend our hospitals until the incident is resolved. Please use alternative services in the area.”
Some 24 hours after the major incident was first declared, the Trust has scaled down the incident saying enough progress had been made by staff to restore its services. The fire is understood to have been caused by an accidental electrical fault.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter ), Dr Rebecca Maxwell, interim chief medical officer at UHBW said: “Thanks to the amazing efforts of our colleagues, we have made good progress in restoring our services and have now stood down our Internal Critical Incident.”
She said medical services were restored and patients were once again allowed back in after power was restored to all parts of the BRI shortly after 10am this morning. She said then that while power was back the critical incident remained in place.
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This afternoon (Saturday May 4), Dr Maxwell updated the situation saying: “Our adult Emergency Department is now open to both ambulances and urgent walk-in patients. Our Children’s Emergency Department continues to be open to both ambulances and walk-in patients.
“Patients with appointments should attend as planned unless we have contacted them directly, and we welcome visitors back to our hospitals. The safety of our patients and colleagues has been maintained throughout thanks to the amazing efforts of our staff, emergency services and healthcare partners.”
