Nelson Hospital
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A union organiser says striking staff returned to Nelson Hospital this morning to care for patients after its back-up generator failed in a power outage.
The top of the South Island lost power in fierce winds shortly before 8am but it was gradually restored to parts of the city from 9.30am.
PSA organiser Toby Beesley said he understood the power was out for around 45 minutes at the hospital and some patients were transported to other hospitals, while others needed extra support.
He said the union leaders met during the power outage and made the call to cancel strike action in Nelson.
“We really wanted the focus to be on the hospital and making sure that the patients and the workers that were working in there were safe and not put under any additional undue stress,” he said.
Beesley said the union had been working with Health NZ on a crisis management protocol and senior leadership at Nelson Hospital asked for additional support from its members.
“Those members were largely the biomedical team, they’re the people that get involved with resetting equipment, making sure it’s calibrated and working effectively as there were concerns that all of the equipment will have reset through the complete power outage,” he said.
Patients unaffected – Health NZ
Health New Zealand Te Waipounamu executive regional director Pete Watson said Nelson Hospital was running on generator supply while the network power was re-established.
He said a back-up battery kept critical systems running during the outage and no patients were affected.
Beesley said the power outage illustrated the government’s under-investment in Nelson Hospital and its failure to to address the need for a building that was fit for purpose.
“We know that patients were moved, we know that our members had to manually step in. It’s disingenuous for them to say nobody was impacted. Our entire community has been impacted by this power outage,” he said.
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said the outage was deeply concerning.
“It shouldn’t have happened. I understand nobody was in theatre or on a ventilator so what I am relieved about is that no patients came to any harm.”
Boyack said she had raised concerns that the redevelopment of Nelson Hospital did not include a rebuild of the ICU, emergency department or theatres and questioned whether they would be up to scratch in an emergency situation.
“It’s important that our infrastructure doesn’t fail and that those areas which have the highest patient need are able to cope in these situations,” she said.
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