Major incident after hospital fire is stood down

A major incident declared after a fire at a city's main hospital has now been stood down.

The incident was triggered when an electrical blaze broke out in the west wing of Southampton General Hospital on 1 February.

Hospital staff and fire crews evacuated more than 500 patients to safe areas across the site within 40 minutes.

The major incident - which is typically called during events that present a significant threat to the public and require the response of multiple emergency services - has now been stood down and moved to a recovery stage.

University Hospital Southampton (UHS) said the main focus of the recovery will be getting people safely out of hospital as soon as they are medically fit to leave.

The hospital still has 150 fewer beds than usual as a result of the fire and demand remains high.

Reflecting on the response, James Lowell, chief delivery officer at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said: "Through the efforts of staff from across the health and care system, additional support was quickly put in place in response to the fire in Southampton.

"Our acute and community hospitals, urgent treatment centres, GP practices, the ambulance service and local authority social care colleagues have all stepped up to support UHS."

Lowell said an ambulance divert from Southampton's emergency department to other hospitals was in place for a total of 31 hours and 211 patients were moved to other health facilities.

The majority of outpatient appointments are going ahead at the hospital, with patients advised to attend as planned unless told otherwise.

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