Hot weather caused lifts to break at Birmingham's new Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Lifts at Birmingham’s new £2.6 billion superhospital broke down within weeks of opening in a “freak incident” because of the hot weather, it has emerged.
Viv Tsemelis, a director of the new Queen Elizabeth Birmingham Hospital, admitted there had been teething problems and that a lift had “plunged” from the fourth floor to the ground while people were inside. It is unclear whether anybody inside the lift was injured.
The admissions were made after hospital representatives were summoned before Birmingham’s Health Scrutiny Committee to discuss a number of complaints from patients about the new hospital.
Chairman Coun Deirdre Alden said she was informed lifts had broken down and on one occasion, people were stuck inside a lift but the alarm bell did not work and it then “plunged” to the ground.
Ms Tsemelis confirmed that it had occurred and said engineers from the lift manufacturer and Balfour Beatty, in charge of building and maintaining the hospital under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract, were drafted in urgently.
“There have been teething problems going into the new hospital, as you get with all new buildings,” said Ms Tsemelis. “Issues with some of the lifts have been resolved. It seems to have been a freak incident because of the hot weather with heat inside the lift shafts triggering safety mechanisms, causing lifts to come back to the ground floor.
“One went from the fourth floor to the ground because it triggered itself to drop.
“Some of the call buttons weren’t working so Balfour Beatty staff and engineers acted as a warden in every lift. We stopped using lifts while they did their testing. The fix was to adjust the air cooling to change the temperature sensors.
“It was unfortunate it happened but fortunately there have not been any catastrophic consequences.”
Hospital medics had also raised fears over patient safety when lifts broke down and problems in moving people to departments on varying floors for treatment.
Ms Tsemelis added that other complaints, such as a light fittings falling out, were due to it not being checked properly before the opening.
She said the hospital had appropriate staffing but the A&E had been unusually busy with a sudden surge of about 100 extra patients, many with respiratory problems from the hot weather, and there had been problems with delayed discharges, which is bed blocking, too.
“The trust is suffering particularly harshly with delayed discharges,” said the director. “There are times when there are pressures on beds and ambulance crews may decide to take patients on the border to other hospitals. It is not a consequence of the new hospital, but it happens.”
David Spilsbury, a governor at University Hospital Birmingham Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, also told the committee his wife was a volunteer and complained there were no wheelchairs at the entrance for them to use.
“Several of the volunteers have put in complaints but it doesn’t seem to be feeding back,” said Mr Spilsbury. “I have never seen a wheelchair by the entrance. Volunteers are having to help people with walking sticks stagger down the long corridors. It’s a big hospital too.”
Ms Tsemelis said there were ten wheelchairs but porters had been taking them from the front entrance and keeping them on wards.
More than 30 patients and visitors have now claimed they have faced long queues to be admitted to a bed at the superhospital, along with maintenance issues of light fittings falling out and showers with scalding hot water preventing patients from having a wash.
