A UK hospital has urged patients not to go to A&E after it declared a major incident.
Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth is dealing with an unexpected and “serious” power loss this morning.
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It warned some services will be affected and the outage may lead to cancellations.
But patients have been encouraged to attend their appointments as planned unless they have been contacted directly.
A spokesperson for Queen Alexandra Hospital said: “As a result of an unexpected serious loss of power, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has today declared a Major Incident at Queen Alexandra Hospital.
“The hospital is safe and our staff are working hard to continuing providing care for patients already with us, but we have made the decision to close to new attendances to our Emergency Department.”
The hospital urged patients with serious medical conditions to phone 999 or NHS 111 if there is an emergency – not go to the QA Hospital Emergency Department.
Patients and visitors will also find the phone lines and switchboard are affected.
This means they will not be able to call from or into the hospital.
“Our on-site teams are working to restore power as soon as possible. We expect some services will be affected today and there may be some cancellations, but please do continue to attend unless you have been contacted or updated through us,” the spokesperson added.
“We will keep you updated with any developments and potential impact on other services.”
In an update at just before 10.am, the NHS trust issued a new statement that confirmed power has been restored to most of the site.
The Emergency Department has now re-opened and the Major Incident has been changed to an Internal Critical Incident.
A spokesperson added: “Many of our IT systems are now back up and running, so if you have an outpatient’s appointment, please continue to attend as usual unless you have heard from us directly.”
It comes after a “small number” of procedures were cancelled this morning and “some delays” will be expected to continue.
“Our phone lines are still having some issues, and we will share an update when these are fully back. We are also having issues with the card readers in our car parks so have suspended payment for today,” the spokesperson added.
“Visitors are welcome to attend the hospital as normal.”
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