Copper thieves disrupt Welsh hospital

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 15 2011

The Llandough Hospital, in South Wales, UK had to cancel almost 100 operations yesterday after copper thieves stole cables used to keep a vital back-up power generator working. To make up dozens of extra operations a day need to be adjusted up to Christmas.

The thieves stole more than 300ft of copper wiring. The stolen metal, meanwhile, is said to be worth just ‘a few hundred pounds’ in scrap. The Llandough Hospital, also faces costs running into many tens of thousands of pounds from lost equipment and wasted hours.

This incident is one of the latest in a series of metal theft raids across Britain. Organized gangs, cashing in on the surge in the price of copper, are knocking out crucial communications by stealing the copper cables the systems use, affecting emergency services and transport safety.

Last month, it was reported that thieves had stolen street lighting cabling, causing blackouts on major roads. And coastguards’ communications were cut off for 36 hours after aerial signals were cut by metal thieves. Thieves have also disrupted the radio system used by emergency services including the Metropolitan Police, fire and ambulance services.

Hospital bosses said the theft was ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ and confirmed that 81 patients were affected. Back-up generators are crucial to hospitals because they guarantee life and death services remain running in a power cut. And although the main generator was unaffected, South Wales has been experiencing stormy weather, and officials decided that they could not operate on patients without back-up in place. A replacement back-up generator was fitted yesterday and last night a spokesman for the hospital confirmed that normal surgical activity would resume today.

Jan Williams, chief executive of the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said, “NHS staff work tirelessly to care for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. It is depressing to note that, for these thieves, the monetary value of copper is of more consequence.” Deputy chief executive Paul Hollard said, “It beggars belief that anyone could stoop so low as to potentially put patients’ lives at risk in this way.” South Wales Police are investigating and have appealed for information from anyone offered the copper as scrap. Detective Sergeant Chris Hearn, of the British Transport Police metal task force, said, “They are obviously endangering lives.”