A power outage at Tallaght hospital prompted the cancellation of more than 1,000 outpatient appointments for adults and children on Wednesday after the lights went out in the early hours of the morning in some parts of the hospital building.
The intensive care unit and theatres at the hospital, one of the State’s largest, had to revert to emergency generator supplies after the power cut.
Tallaght University Hospital said after lunchtime on Wednesday that “all services” were resuming. “We regret that the emergency situation led to the postponement of appointments for today, they will be rescheduled as quickly as possible in the coming weeks.”
The cancelled appointments included radiology and X-ray appointments as well as blood tests and elective procedures. Although kidney dialysis, oncology and haematology appointments were not cancelled as a result of the outage, the hospital said its emergency department was one of the areas impacted.
“We would like to remind people that patients are prioritised according to clinical need and would ask the public to attend their GP in the first instance where appropriate.”
However, the hospital said its Children’s Health Ireland urgent care unit was not impacted by the power failure.
“In the early hours of the morning power to a section of the hospital failed, the failure has affected a transformer which means the hospital is running on generator power in certain areas of the building, including radiology, outpatients, theatre and ICU.”
