Extreme temperatures caused the failure of MRI scanner cooling systems at NNUH on 24 June, while EMAS declared a critical incident on 27 June after a period of sustained pressure on ambulance services.

NNUH chief operating officer Chris Cobb said: ‘I can confirm that we have stood down our critical incident which was declared on Wednesday 24 June after the cooling systems supporting our MRI scanners within the hospital building and our community diagnostic centre failed in the hot and humid weather.

‘We have worked tirelessly to bring all the scanners back into use and are now working to have all patients booked in with a new appointment. Most patients who had their appointment cancelled have already been contacted by our teams with new appointment dates. We received a mobile MRI scanner on Thursday morning and it is instrumental in supporting our prioritisation of inpatients and patients on suspected cancer two week waiting lists.

‘We have taken steps to modify the cooling systems within the MRI scanner environments and have introduced a process that will help ensure that there is no repetition of this type of incident on this scale during future periods of extreme temperature and humidity.'

EMAS strategic commander Craig Whyles said: ‘We continue to see high levels of demand for our service, and we remain at level 4 of our Resource Escalation Action Plan to reflect this.'