A CHILD at a Wirral hospital had to be wheeled outside through a loading bay due to faulty lifts.

According to officials from Unite the Union, lifts have been regularly breaking down at Arrowe Park Hospital causing disruption to staff and patients attempting to move around the building. Clinical incident forms have reportedly been filled out by staff concerned about the issue raising it with the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust which runs the hospital.

Derek Jones, regional officer for Unite, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) staff had approached him regularly including about one incident in April whereby a child being treated in the hospital taken from the main theatre on the ground floor through the hospital into its education centre, down a lift into its fracture clinic to then be taken outside through a goods loading bay to get into the basement of the Wirral Women's and Children's hospital to take a lift up to the wards there.

He said the lift issues had affected nine departments in the hospital and clinical incident forms, where staff report issues, had been filled out by staff who had “not been able to get onto the ward to perform procedures.” Mr Jones added how the lifts were old with difficulties finding new parts but said no safety concerns had been raised by staff.

He said: “Staff have been complaining to the trust for a significant length of time, several months that the lifts have been intermittently going off and breaking down and it’s left a limited amount of lifts to be used.”

A Wirral University Teaching Hospital spokesperson said: “Patient safety is our number one priority, and this has not been impacted by the lifts.

“Due to their high usage in a busy hospital, and the age of our buildings, there are times when lifts have been out of use but there are always other lifts available in those circumstances, and a fast response has ensured they have been back up and running as soon as possible.

“We have a planned programme in place for lift upgrades and replacement across the Arrowe Park Hospital campus and this work continues.”

The Care Quality Commission, the government regulator for health and social care in England, said it was not aware of the issue and has since followed the matter up with the trust after being approached by the LDRS.

Unite are currently in dispute with the hospital trust over the pay of recovery theatre practitioners at the hospital. Two strike days are planned on April 23 and 24 following strikes on April 16 and 17.