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 the union leaders met during the power outage and made the call to cancel strike action in Nelson.
The union leaders met during the power outage and made the call to cancel strike action in Nelson, he said.
"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.
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, Beesley said.
"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.
Generator failure under investigation - Health Minister
The Health Minister said he was ordering an independent investigation into why the generator failed this morning.
Simeon Brown said it was unacceptable, and the he had asked the Health NZ board to undertake an independent investigation along with an audit of all back-up generation across all hospitals.
Health NZ Te Waipounamu executive regional director Pete Watson said Nelson Hospital had a series of safeguards to protect against power outages, including an Uninterruptable Power Supply system which maintained power to critical services, such as theatres and intensive care, and the system had worked as expected.
However it was investigating why the generator failed to provide backup power immediately and identifying measures to ensure this did not occur again.
Although there were patients in operating theatres at the time and everyone remained safe throughout the outage, Watson said.
"We have robust protocols in place to manage ongoing emergency care during these kinds of events. We thank our staff for following these plans quickly and calmly to ensure the safest possible outcome for patients.
"We are also grateful that staff who were on planned strikes, came to assist in line with our emergency protocols, and we want to thank them."
'Disingenuous' to say nobody was impacted
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, Beesley said.
"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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