Hospital bosses have reassured staff and patients that lifts at Hull Royal Infirmary are on the mend after three stopped working during the heatwave.
The Anlaby Road building, built in the 1960s, has 13 storeys which hospital visitors, staff and some patients were having to scale following the sudden breakdown of two of its four lifts yesterday – and a third is currently out of service.
That left staff who contacted us “angry and miserable” on one of the hottest days of the year so far in Hull, where temperatures jumped to 26C, at potentially having to scale numerous flights of stairs in the lofty tower, or endure lengthy waits to use the one operational lift.
It’s not known what caused the lifts to come to a halt, or how long it has been an issue, but the hospital’s theatre lifts, needed to ferry patients to and from surgery, have been unaffected.
A spokeswoman for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust told us two of the lifts are now back up and running, but the hospital users and staff face further frustration as they await work to be carried out on a third lift.
A staff member told us: “It’s the hottest day and all but one lift that goes past the second floor are under maintenance – this is ridiculous. I’ve been waiting an hour so far. Everyone is angry and miserable. Something needs to change – it’s very rare there are all four lifts working.”
The Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust spokeswoman said: “We apologise to any patients who were inconvenienced following the unexpected breakdown of two of our four lifts at Hull Royal Infirmary this afternoon, whilst a third lift is also out of use due to ongoing refurbishment works.
“Two of the four lifts are now fully operational and we expect the third to be back in use later tomorrow, following the delivery of a part.
“Our teams did all they could to minimise the impact on our patients, utilising our theatre lifts and requesting that all staff and any patients who were able to use the stairs did so to reduce the demand.”
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