KEY POINTS:
Grey Hospital has closed three of its four operating theatres and postponed a number of operations because of an air conditioning problem.
A routine maintenance check yesterday found the theatres' filtering system was not working properly, chief executive Kevin Hague said.
"In the interests of patient safety we have shut three of our four theatres until the problems are rectified. The remaining theatre is not affected by the problem and will be used for any acute surgery requirements."
Some minor operations could also be done in the remaining theatre. Mr Hague said the decisions on which operations were postponed would be made on a day-by-day basis.
The board's community liaison officer Bryan Jamieson said the filtering problem could have increased the risk of patients developing infections. However, it had been detected before anyone got sick.
He had no idea how long the problem would take to fix or how many operations would have to be postponed. The board's maintenance staff were looking at the air conditioning system today.
"I don't know whether it's a fault with or whether it's some part of the actual machinery that needs to be replaced, or it's a particular batch of filters that might be wrong and aren't performing as they should," Mr Jamieson said.
He hoped the theatres would be closed for days, rather than weeks. Much would depend on whether any equipment required was available in New Zealand, he said.
- NZPA
