YorPower Restores Power to Blood Bank Refrigerators at NHS Hospital 

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24 July 2024

A recent power outage at a South of England NHS Hospital that disrupted blood storage facilities was resolved by back-up power solutions provider YorPower.

The UPS (uninterruptible power supply) system at the hospital failed in the middle of the night and the current back-up power contractor was unable to respond until the next day. 

The blood bank refrigerator was unable to keep the blood at the required temperature (between 2ºC and 6 ºC) and it had to be disposed of. As a result, all elective operations had to be cancelled the following day.

At 9:00 the following morning, the site engineer was able to restore mains power to the blood bank refrigerator via the external bypass. The refrigerator must be powered up for a minimum of 24 hours before blood can be stored there– and crucially, only if a back-up power system could be put in place.

YorPower had previously worked with the hospital, and so they received a call at 13:30 the afternoon after the UPS system failed, and the team was on-site by 17:00. Its engineers installed a temporary UPS system allowing more blood and blood components to be delivered by 11:00 the following morning.

NHS Blood and Transplant supplies approximately 1.6 million units of blood per year to all hospitals in England – an essential service for patient care across a wide range of acute clinical specialities. 

YorPower’s UPS Technical Manager, Annmarie Wakefield, advised that the best solution would be to have a separate UPS System installed to the blood bank refrigerator to ensure power never fails again and no more blood is lost in the future. YorPower has since received a purchase order to supply and install the UPS and will work with the hospital on a contract basis.

Picture: a photograph of two people wearing hi-vis jackets engaged in a discussion involving a piece of equipment and a laptop in a warehouse setting. Image Credit: YorPower 

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 24 July 2024

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