NNUH MRI scanners Critical Incident stood down

NNUH Chief Operating Officer Chris Cobb said: “I can confirm that we have stood down our critical incident which was declared on Wednesday 24 June after the cooling systems supporting our MRI scanners within the hospital building and our Community Diagnostic Centre failed in the hot and humid weather.

“We have worked tirelessly to bring all the scanners back into use and are now working to have all patients booked in with a new appointment. Most patients who had their appointment cancelled have already been contacted by our teams with new appointment dates. We received a mobile MRI scanner on Thursday morning and it is instrumental in supporting our prioritisation of inpatients and patients on suspected cancer two week waiting lists.

“We would like to apologise to everyone impacted by this incident. We recognise the distress this has caused and will endeavour to get everyone rebooked as soon as possible.

“If you have not been contacted by the hospital, please attend your appointment as usual.

“We have taken steps to modify the cooling systems within the MRI scanner environments and have introduced a process that will help ensure that there is no repetition of this type of incident on this scale during future periods of extreme temperature and humidity.”