Patients and staff in Watford General’s main hospital block had to manage for a day without their usual access to running water, it has emerged.

A pump failure at the hospital led to a lack of hot and cold running water supply to largest clinical building, the Princess Michael of Kent building (PMoK).

It meant bottled water was brought in for drinking, sterile water brought in for bed baths and wipes and gel used for hand-washing.

It is understood the incident, which occurred on June 2, did not impact on hospital admissions and had not happened before - but it was highlighted to the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust board on Thursday September 2.

Following the meeting, a spokesperson for the trust told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Our estates team worked hard to manage the issue which was resolved by the end of the day.

"Staff had access to sterile water in clinical areas and followed well planned trust processes to ensure the safe care of our patients."

The trust has admitted in the past that its hospital state is "ageing" and in need of improvement.

Hospital bosses are currently working on a business case to secure Government funding to rebuild Watford General.

At the  meeting it was also reported that on June 16, the trust ran a full test of the emergency generators by turning off the main power. 

As part of the "black start generator test", the power at the Vicarage Road site was turned off in order to check that he generator "kicked in and picked up the load".

Reporting on the success of the test, a trust report stated: "The switch over from mains power to the generators and back again completed successfully with a log of the minor issues that occurred for resolution and reporting."

According to the report, a risk assessment of all clinical areas was carried out in advance of the test to ensure all departments had reviewed their business continuity plan.

And, it says, a command structure was set-up on the day to monitor the switch over and to liaise with key departments.