Security increased after hospital theft

6:27pm Tuesday 21st August 2007

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SECURITY has been stepped up at the Royal Blackburn Hospital after thieves caused severe disruption to health services by stealing copper wire from the communication system.

Hospital security advisors have been working closely with police since the theft of copper wire caused major problems for the hospital trust on Saturday.

For security reasons hospital bosses and police do not want to pinpint the exact location of the cabling theft, although it was believed to have been underground.

Additional patrols have been introduced around the perimeter of the site to deter future would-be thieves.

Just one operation, believed to involve a four-year old boy from Burnley, was cancelled as a result of the communications problems.

Police have confirmed that they are still investigating the theft, which is thought to have occurred around 11am on Saturday.

CCTV footage of the areas surrounding the compound is being studied but it is not believed any footage of the thieves was captured.

Telecoms systems, including internal and external lines and e-mails, were gradually brought back on line during the course of yesterday.

External calls were diverted to the switchboard at Burnley General. Vital messages were relayed back to Blackburn.

Phone links to the accident and emergency and critical care departments were the first to be restored on Monday.

Hospital chiefs hoped that by last night (Tues) all remaining departments on site would be fully functional.

Mobile phones were issued to some staff and radios were drafted in. Fallback phones, which are red and placed at strategic places across the hospital site, were also used.

The emergency phones operate using different lines than the main switchboard system but are limited in number.

Jo Cubbon, chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "I would like to express my thanks to everyone involved who rallied round to continue to provide a high level of service in difficult circumstances.

"Additional security measures have been implemented around the remote far perimeter of the site where the incident ocdurred and we continue to work closely with the police to help them find who did this."