Balloon-induced hydro outage delays surgeries at Lions Gate Hospital

A disruption to the electrical system and the failure of the backup generators saw nearly two dozen surgeries cancelled at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver earlier this month.

BC Hydro attended the area to clear balloons that had become tangled in power lines on June 17, causing arcing. According to the utility, power was cut for only three minutes.

But Vancouver Coastal Health admits there were “intermittent power disruptions” from June 17 to 20.

In that time, 23 scheduled surgeries were postponed, but the health authority is downplaying the situation and providing scant details as to why the disruptions lasted so long.

“The incidents, which were short in duration, were associated with BC Hydro repairs and a technical fault with electrical switches that delayed the trigger of the hospital’s generators,” wrote a spokesperson in an email.

“LGH leadership and technical experts have investigated this event and the technical fault has been resolved.” 

CTV News made repeated requests to speak with someone from the health authority about the hospital's infrastructure, how the backup system failed, and whether they were inspecting other VCH hospitals and their generators but were told no one was available over the course of several days.

“All VCH hospital generators are routinely tested and maintained by our facilities management team in line with manufacturer’s guidelines,” wrote the spokesperson in a subsequent response after CTV News pointed out many of our initial questions were unanswered, including how many patients were impacted and the general condition of hospitals’ electrical infrastructure.

They still have not identified what kind of surgeries were cancelled and insist “additional measures have also been put in place to support continuity of safe, quality patient care in case of future power disruptions.”

As of Tuesday, VCH says 16 of the procedures have been rescheduled or completed. 

According to its website, Lions Gate Hospital is the fourth-busiest hospital in Vancouver with 268 beds, eight operating rooms and one of only five neurosurgery facilities in the province.