Latest update on Lymington Hospital (9am Friday 20 February)
We are delighted to confirm that all services at Lymington Hospital are now fully up and running. Our visiting hours have also returned to normal, and we warmly welcome family and friends back to our wards.
A huge thank you to our incredible staff and contractors for working tirelessly to restore services so quickly.
And thank you to our patients, their families and the wider community for their patience and understanding over the past 48 hours. We sincerely apologise to anyone affected, and please be assured that anyone whose care was disrupted will be prioritised for rescheduling.
Latest update on Lymington Hospital (3.30pm, Thursday 19 February)
Following confirmation early this morning that the majority of our services are back up and running today as usual, we can also confirm that Lymington’s two theatres now have heating. As a result, surgeries are scheduled to take place again tomorrow (Friday). Patients with planned surgery tomorrow can attend the hospital as expected.
As of this evening (from 5pm onwards), we are also pleased to be in a position to safely welcome back family and friends who wish to visit their loved ones in our hospital wards, as per our normal visiting hours.
Our gratitude to staff and contractors at Lymington who have ensured services are back up and running as soon as possible.
And finally, thank you to our patients and families for their understanding during these difficult 48 hours and heartfelt apologies to those adversely affected – rest assured we will prioritise you if your care needs to be rescheduled.
Previous statements (now superseded by the statement above)
Morning update on Lymington Hospital (8.30am, Thursday 19 February)
We continue to work hard to re-open all services at Lymington Hospital, following the recent water leak and subsequent heating and water supply issues.
As a result, we are pleased to confirm that the majority of our services - including radiology, outpatients, endoscopy and phlebotomy - now have safe heating and hot water and will begin operating as normal today. The small number of early morning appointments that were cancelled as a precautionary measure will be rebooked as a priority.
The Urgent Treatment Centre has also fully reopened (from 8.00am this morning), and inpatient care continues uninterrupted across our five wards - with patients being kept safe and warm with temporary heaters until a permanent fix is implemented today.
Unfortunately, heating in the hospital’s theatres is still undergoing repair, with work scheduled to complete at some point between lunchtime today and Friday morning. This means that surgeries due to take place today will not go ahead, with alternative arrangements being made directly with those affected patients to fast-track them within the next fortnight.
We remain optimistic that our remaining theatre services will be fully restored by tomorrow (Friday 20 February) and we ask that family and friends continue to call the hospital for updates about their loved ones on our inpatient wards and avoid visiting the hospital today as we complete final works.
Finally, our thanks to all our staff at Lymington Hospital for their hard work over the past 36 hours, and our sincere apologies and our thanks to patients and families for their understanding as we work to resolve this unexpected problem as quickly as we can.
Flood Affecting Services at Lymington Hospital (Wednesday 18 February)
Due to a significant water leak overnight affecting heating and water supply, a number of our services at Lymington Hospital, including our Urgent Treatment Centre, are temporarily closed today.
We can confirm that our inpatient care is able to continue safely, but unfortunately the majority of our outpatient clinics, diagnostics, and elective procedures have had to be cancelled today. Patients have been contacted to rebook their appointments and we are working to triage our most urgent patients to limit any delays to their care.
Additionally, we are unable to accept visitors to our inpatient wards today. Instead, we would encourage family and friends to contact the relevant ward for an update on their loved ones’ care. Please use the ward’s direct telephone number or call the main switchboard number (01590 663000) and we will redirect and support you.
Rest assured, regular updates will be provided as works to fix the leak and the resulting damage progress. Teams are on site and are working to resolve this as soon as possible, and we are hopeful that most of our services will resume as normal later this week.
Please do not attend Lymington Hospital today unless you are contacted by your healthcare team directly.