Premature babies were rushed from Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital to intensive care units across Scotland due to a “fault” in the medical air system.
The measure was taken because the piped medical air is essential for patients requiring respiratory support.
Engineers called to NHS Tayside’s flagship hospital managed to resolve the issue quickly. However, the neonatal ward remains closed to new admissions.
Further investigations into the oxygen system are to take place this week but the health board says the hospital is running as normal.
A spokeman for NHS Tayside said: “An intermittent fault was identified with the piped medical air system at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on Sunday and contingency measures were put in place to ensure safe patient care.
“The system provides medical air to wards and departments across the site for patients who require respiratory support.
“As a precautionary measure, NHS Tayside clinicians transferred three babies from Ninewells Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to other specialist intensive care units in Scotland, along with their parents, who will be accommodated with their babies.
“The neonatal unit at Ninewells is closed to new admissions. However, the unit continues to care for babies who do not require specialist respiratory support. There is also the capacity to care for any emergency admissions.”
They added that the transferred babies will come back to Ninewells once the issue has been fully resolved.
“Engineers arrived on site yesterday and carried out a repair to the piped air system allowing wards and departments to use the system as normal,” they said. “Further investigations will be carried out on the system this week.
“The rest of the hospital is operating as normal and patient care is unaffected.”
