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Hospital patients still without tap water due to 'precautionary measures'

Mike McBrideBBC News NI
News imageBBC A close up of a sign outside Altnagelvin Hospital, which says the name of the building in large lettering. It is a tall building with a mix of facades including brown brick and grey cladding.BBC
A burst pipe near the hospital on Tuesday has resulted in precautionary measures remaining in place at the hospital this week.

Some patients at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry are still without access to tap water and are still being provided with bottled water due to "precautionary" measures.

A burst pipe on Glenshane Road disrupted the water supply at Altnagelvin Hospital, with NI Water later completing repairs on the pipe on Tuesday.

The Western Health Trust said on Wednesday that supply had returned to normal, but that some "purely precautionary measures" were still in place to "allow final controls and checks".

Some patients have contacted BBC News NI to report that they remain without tap water, about 48 hours after the problem with the water supply first emerged.

'Purely precautionary'

In a statement on Thursday, a Western Trust spokesperson said: "Any enhanced infection prevention and control measures that remain in place in relation to the water supply incident at Altnagelvin Hospital are purely precautionary."

They added that this was "to allow final controls and checks to be assessed by the trust in partnership with our colleagues in NI Water".

BBC News NI understands that some patients have been told on Thursday to continue to not use any tap water on wards and are being provided with bottled water four-times-a-day for drinking and for brushing their teeth.