A fire which broke out in the plant room of the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre (BHOC), part of the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI), in the early hours of 10 May, saw the evacuation of 53 patients to other wards in the BRI and the Bristol Heart Institute.
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust said the fire – believed to have started at around 1.00 am – had caused ‘extensive smoke damage’ throughout the BHOC, with staff and management now ‘working hard to plan how we care for patients and get the hospital up and running again’.
All patients and staff were ‘safe’, The Trust added, with patients being cared for ‘in other areas’ of its facilities.
The Trust explained: “The fire has had a knock-on effect on many of our hospitals, and our services are under considerable pressure. As a result patients are being diverted away from the adults’ Emergency Department, although the children’s Emergency Department and the Emergency Department in the Bristol Eye Hospital are open as usual. We have cancelled planned procedures and radiotherapy planned for today, and are contacting all patients booked for urgent care to make arrangements with them.
“Outpatient appointments in the children’s hospital and for adult medicine and surgery are continuing as normal. We would like to apologise to our patients and their families who have been disrupted by these exceptional circumstances.”
