Critical incident in Bristol as patients told to stay away from hospitals

Patients have been told not to attend hospitals in Bristol city centre because of a “critical incident” amid reports of a ceiling collapse.

At least 10 fire services vehicles descended on Bristol Royal Infirmary on Friday afternoon as the hospital was evacuated.

Patients were plunged into darkness by a “power outage” as eyewitnesses said a ceiling had collapsed and sparks had started a fire.

Lisa Davidson, 50, from Bristol, was having a blood transfusion for Crohn’s disease at the time.

“All the lights went off and they kept flashing on and off. Then they told us to go out, we couldn’t find our way out,” she said.

“We tried to get out from the main entrance but that was locked so we had to come out from the car park. It was really scary, I felt a bit upset. They had to stop my infusions to evacuate. It was like a nightmare.”

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) said “a power outage” was affecting all of its hospitals in the area and warned patients to stay away.

Patients who were forced to leave the hospital said the power had gone off before an alarm siren sounded and the evacuation commenced.

The trust runs multiple sites in the centre of the city, including The Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, St Michael’s Hospital and Bristol Eye Hospital.

Police on horseback also attended the scene, with neighbouring roads being closed to transport.

The hospital insisted all patients and staff were safe but told people “not to attend” until the incident was resolved.

It is not currently clear what has caused the outage.

Patients have been waiting outside for several hours since the evacuation took place and visitors have also expressed their concerns about loved ones still inside.

William Cullen, 53, who works at the WHSmith inside the hospital, said there had been “a collapse of a ceiling in the A&E department”.

“It went dark and there was an alarm going off, which didn’t go off straight away,” he said.

“There was a lot of confusion, there was no communication. There was news of someone saying there was an explosion. A&E is two floors up so it’s come from that area.”

Sarah, 56, office manager, from Somerset, said she had been waiting with her sister outside the hospital for more than two hours to see her elderly mother with dementia.

“We arrived at about three o’clock and they said there had been a power outage. They weren’t giving very much information so it’s just what we’ve heard from people walking past, it seems like it’s quite a lot of fire engines,” she said.

“Our mum came into A&E with a leg wound in the early hours this morning. She’s 88 with Alzheimer’s and we can’t see her. It’s quite shocking.

“The incident is scary enough. She’s been through a lot of upheaval over the last few weeks, we thought us being here would be reassuring but we don’t know how long we’ll be out here.

“We just got told to get a coffee. We don’t know what’s going on and we can’t speak to anyone connected to the A&E ward.

“They said there were no phone lines, but she’s been in there since 3am. We don’t know why she’s inside, and we can’t go in. It is worrying because we don’t know to what extent this incident has affected things inside the hospital.”

Dr Rebecca Maxwell, the interim chief medical officer at UHBW, said: “We have declared a critical incident due to a power outage. We aim to have this fully resolved as soon as possible. All patients, visitors and colleagues are safe.

“We ask the public not to attend our Bristol city centre hospitals until the incident is resolved and use alternative services in the area. We thank you for your cooperation.”

Locals needing urgent medical help have been asked to contact NHS 111.