Patient records damaged in SA hospital sewage spill

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Some records were damaged but no patients were exposed to danger when sewage flooded part of the emergency department of Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital, officials say.

A blocked drain caused a spill into a waiting room, a short stay ward and a medical records office.

A staff member got grey water in their eye while dealing with the problem but hospital staff said all the affected areas were evacuated or cordoned off and patients remained safe.

The hospital’s executive director of corporate services Phil Robinson said some medical records were water-damaged and would be sent interstate to be restored.

“We acted immediately to bring in a specialist company that actually deals with this sort of problem and they are in the process of retrieving those records and basically using a gamma-ray treatment on them,” he said.

“What we will be doing as each file is taken off the shelf [is] our medical records people will be recording the client and patient details to ensure a temporary file is created while the file is interstate, so our whole objective is to maximise patient safety.”

Mr Robinson said the sewage was cleaned up swiftly.

“We brought our infection control people down there, we brought in a specialist company to clean up. Essentially the only area where you can get into trouble is if you get grey water … in your mouth or on your body,” he said.

“All the areas were cordoned off so there was no risk to patient safety.”