Hospital bosses have apologised for delays to more than 400 patients’ surgery after operating theatres flooded in a North East hospital.
Seven out of eight operating theatres at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton ended up “underwater” following heavy rain, an NHS board meeting heard today (Thursday, July 2).
It highlighted the “frailties” of the hospital’s crumbling buildings, previously branded “not fit for purpose”, cost hundreds of millions of pounds to maintain, were said to have only eight years’ life left in them in 2023, with redevelopment of the hospital recently described as “the major endeavour over the next 10 years”.
Stacey Hunter, chief executive of the University Hospitals Tees (UHT) group which covers both North and South Tees NHS Foundation Trusts, told the group’s board: “We’ve talked earlier about the damage to theatres we had following the rain on June 2 at the North Tees site. I don’t want to dwell on that.
“But it is a feature of having an old estate where there are frailties. It did mean for us that over 400 people had to have their surgery rearranged.
"We know that’s really disappointing and frustrating for people who have waited already sometimes quite a long time to be able to access their surgery.
“But when seven out of your eight theatres are underwater, it’s clearly not safe to bring people into that environment.
"I can advise the board that actually people who had urgent need were accommodated because clearly we had an opportunity to look at our estate across the group.
“And most of those other 400 people will know when their appointments are being rearranged.”
Her written report to the board said: “The trust board will be aware that there has been damage to theatres at the North Tees site following a significant flood that occurred after it rained on the June 2. This has resulted in over 400 people having to have their surgery rearranged for which we apologise.
“It has also had a material impact on capital given the repairs and revenue to provide additional capacity to rearrange people’s operations.
"Thank you to all of our staff who responded to the floods exceptionally well and have managed our response via a prolonged business continuity incident.”
Ms Hunter also referred to the financial impact of the unanticipated flooding, saying: “Given that we have already got a very significant commitment around financial savings, that is a concern.
"In totality, although some of the theatres came back into use after a couple of weeks, some of them it’s taken us longer and it’ll be into August before we’ve got everything back and available to us.”
She thanked estates and facilities staff, adding: “You have to come into your own when you have a scenario like that, and they did. People worked above and beyond their usual hours to try and mitigate the risks. Some of their actions definitely prevented what could have been even further damage.
“Also to our operational clinical staff, rearranging that number of appointments with that level of disruption is significant for them.”
The report stated: “There is a significant estates risk associated with North Tees hospital which the board are well sighted on. This recently resulted in significant flooding in the main theatres following rain on June 2.
“It impacted seven out of the available eight theatres which has had a significant impact on available capacity resulting in circa 400 people needing their operations rearranged. Our apologies to patients and families for this inconvenience.
“Our teams are working hard to plan additional capacity and get patients re-booked as soon as possible.” A further report said: “Four of the theatres are now back up and running, work continues on the remaining three.”
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