AN investigation is being carried out after a hospital was left running on battery power when its back-up generator “failed” during a power outage in the midst of Storm Eowyn, MSPs have been told.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance confirmed to Holyrood on Tuesday that “no patient harm was identified” after Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert was without mains electricity for approximately one hour as the result of a “storm-related power outage” on Friday.
NHS Forth Valley said there had been a “short period before the back-up generators came onstream”, with the health board adding that “contingency arrangements were required to be put in place”.
However, Scottish Greens MSP Mark Ruskell said the hospital had been relying on emergency battery power with a “limited” capacity.
Meanwhile SP Energy Networks said on Tuesday afternoon that 800 customers in Dumfries and Galloway were still without power following Friday’s storm.
Ruskell (below), MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife and the party’s energy spokesperson, said: “It was a relief to hear that no patients were harmed at Forth Valley Royal Hospital during the power outage.
“I understand the back-up generator failed, the emergency battery that was the last resort, of course, has limited capacity, and I understand it only had up to 90 minutes of power.”
Constance told MSPs: “There is a full investigation ongoing into this incident.”
Confirmation of that came as the Justice Secretary updated Holyrood on the impact the storm, which saw high winds with gusts of up to 100mph batter Scotland.
One person was killed, with Calum Carmichael, 19, from New Cumnock, East Ayrshire, dying after his car was hit by a falling tree in nearby Mauchline on Friday morning before the red weather warning came into force.
The winds also closed schools across the country, with bus, train and ferry services cancelled and significant damage caused to the rail network.
Constance however praised the “remarkable progress” made by energy companies to restore electricity supplies to those who lost power during the storm.
“At its worst, over 130,000 people were reported to be without power,” Constance told MSPs.
But she said by noon on Tuesday the number without electricity had been reduced to 2538 customers.
Adding that Scotland was “still in the process of recovery”, she added that the “extreme damage” caused by Storm Eowyn meant that the job of restoring power to those still without electricity would be “complex”.
Power companies are “now dealing with some of the most challenging and remote issues”, she told the Scottish Parliament.
She also told how recovery work had continued across the rail network, which suffered more than 500 incidents during Friday’s storm.
Stressing that both ScotRail and Network Rail “are working to reopen lines as quickly and safely as possible”, Constance said that 73% of services were back in operation by Tuesday, with the lines to Largs, Wemyss Bay and Gourock expected to reopen on Wednesday.
Speaking about the storm and the recovery operations afterwards, she stated: “This has been and continues to be an extremely complex and protracted incident – every business, home and individual was affected by an amber or red weather warning.”
She praised those who had followed the advice to stay at home, saying that by doing this “people have prevented further loss of life”.
But Constance added: “No amount of warning could prevent significant damage and destruction from a storm of this scale.”
