Five Christmas babies at St. Peter’s

A burst water main at the front of the Abbey Wing at St. Peter’s Hospital has failed to dampen the Christmas spirit.   The burst water main was reported at 02:30hrs on Christmas Day, 25^th December.   The hospital’s on call facilities staff assessed the problem and made sure that staff and patients had access to hot and cold water for washing and bottled water for drinking.  Three Valleys Water, who supply water to the St. Peter’s Hospitals site, attended and provided advice.

The water system at St. Peter’s Hospital is complex and in this case it has not been possible to divert the Abbey Wing water supply.   Therefore we supplied water for washing, showers, etc from tanks which have eight hours capacity before they need to be refilled.  Because the water is coming from tanks we advised patients, visitors and staff to drink bottled water which was obtained via the Trust’s catering supplier OCS and other suppliers.

The road across the front of the Abbey Wing is currently closed whilst the pipe is excavated.   Whilst a temporary fix has been achieved it is expected to take several days for the work to mend the pipe to be completed.  The Trust hopes to have services back to normal as soon as possible.  The access road in front of the Abbey Wing will remain closed to through traffic for the time being.

Ian Mackenzie, Director of Performance, Information and Facilities at Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals says: “Despite this happening in the middle of Christmas night everyone rallied together to ensure that hot and cold water for washing was maintained and that bottled water was available for drinking.  The burst water pipe was located in a difficult spot and our staff and contractors have worked hard to reach it and make a temporary repair which was achieved at 3.00p.m. today (Friday 28^thDecember).”

The Abbey Wing at St. Peter’s Hospital is home to maternity services including the Joan Booker Maternity Ward and theLabour Ward, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and to Falcon, Kestrel and Kingfisher surgical wards.   On Christmas Day the Maternity Unit saw five babies born – two for mothers from Woking, one from Sunbury, one from Feltham and one fromStaines.