Hospital closes A&E after patient who was ‘exposed to chemicals’ turns up

Princess Royal Hospital in Telford (Picture: SWNS)

A hospital was forced to close its emergency department after a man turned up having been exposed to ‘potentially harmful chemicals.’

The Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, Shropshire had to be deep cleaned after the incident with patients being moved to other sites in the area.

Although the contamination risk was assessed as ‘very low’, hospital bosses decided to take all necessary precautions.

The site reopened again on Thursday afternoon after the clean was completed.

Nigel Lee, chief operating officer at the hospital, said earlier that the man presented himself at the emergency department of the hospital this morning.

He was found to have been exposed to the unnamed chemical at his place of work nearby.

In a statement, the trust said: ‘The risk of onward contamination to other patients or staff at the hospital has been assessed as very low but, as a precautionary measure, the ED has been closed whilst decontamination cleaning is undertaken.

‘The other patients from the ED have been moved elsewhere and are being assessed.

Patients at the hospital had to be temporarily moved elsewhere (Picture: Google)

‘Again, this is as a precaution, as there is currently no indication that anyone else has been affected. Diverts to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and other hospitals are in place for incoming patients to PRH and we are working very closely with all relevant partners and agencies.

‘Whilst ED, and other services at PRH, are closed patients are asked not to come to the hospital and await further updates. We are working hard to ensure that the ED and other departments at PRH can re-open as soon as is practicably possible and we will issue an update on the situation as soon as new information is available.’

Hospitals across the UK are already stretched by the Covid crisis, with high numbers of infected patients still being admitted.

Many sites are also scrambling to catch up with months of missed operations caused by lockdowns.

A new statement was released at around 2pm, which stated: ‘The incident has now been safely resolved and the Emergency Departments and all other services at PRH have now been re-opened.’