“I think patients need to be told to stay away from the hospital”

A major power outage that paralysed The Alfred hospital forced emergency patients to be diverted on Monday from the major trauma centre.

The Age has been told that people were left waiting in the emergency department unable to have scans, as the issue affected the CT, MRI and X-ray machines.

It is also understood that a number of appointments in the afternoon were cancelled, as patient electronic records were unable to be accessed.

One concerned staff member who contacted The Age on Monday evening said “at the moment, I think patients need to be told to stay away from the hospital”.

“None of the staff know what’s going on because they haven’t been told anything,” they said.

“All we’re being told is ‘until further notice divert all emergencies elsewhere’.”

The staff member said the outage hit about 3pm, and a number of patients who had travelled from NSW for appointments were told that they would have to come back another day.

At 7.40pm, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed that the hospital was affected by power outage that lasted about three or four hours, before being resolved.

The spokeswoman said that the hospital had been in trauma bypass, although it was still taking emergency department walk-ins.

The major disruption is not an isolated one. Less than a week ago, a malfunctioning hot water and heating system forced the cancellation of surgeries.

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