Demands for investigation as blackout leaves hospital without power

A REVIEW of emergency power systems at Wexford General Hospital was demanded yesterday after its back-up generator failed during an ESB blackout.

Six patients, including a woman on a ventilator in the hospital’s intensive care unit, were taken to Waterford Regional Hospital on Tuesday night after strong winds knocked out ESB power to the hospital and 1,000 homes in the Wexford town area.

The hospital was without ESB power from 8.20pm to 1am. Management decided to transfer potentially at-risk patients when the hospital’s generator failed to work. A mobile generator provided lighting to 200 patients in the wards.