‘My hysterectomy was cancelled after water outages in Tunbridge Wells’
A woman who had a major operation canceled in her urban town because of days-long water cuts has hit out at utility bosses who let “vulnerable” people down.
Jessie Wilson, 47, was due to have a hysterectomy at Nuffield Health Tunbridge Wells Hospital on Tuesday. But at the last minute, the procedure was canceled after water provider South East Water (SEW) confirmed the outages would extend into a fourth day.
It comes after a problem at treatment plants forced SEW to turn off the taps of up to 24,000 customers in Tunbridge Wells, Pembury, Frant and Eridge on Saturday. The closure left schools and businesses unable to open, leaving thousands of people dependent on local water stations.
Nuffield Health confirmed its hospital in Tunbridge Wells was also affected by the water outage and non-urgent procedures were postponed.
Mrs Wilson said Independent He will now need surgery a few days before Christmas, which will likely leave him bedridden over the festive period. He criticized SEW for “over-promising” and leaving residents struggling.
“I don’t want to be a week post-surgery on Christmas Day but I have absolutely no choice,” she said. “I’m a single mother of a 16-year-old autistic child and I feel sorry for him more than anything because his Christmas isn’t going to be the best.”
After the first scan, Ms Wilson discovered she would need surgery about four weeks ago. He said he had spent the past week “mentally preparing” for the procedure, but due to SEW’s ever-changing forecasts, the procedure would be canceled at the eleventh hour.
“I had an appointment with my consultant at around 12.30pm on Monday and we were both thinking this was still going to happen,” he said, referring to SEW guidance at the time advising that water should be restored by 8pm that evening.
But his hopes were dashed when he received a call around 4pm and the procedure was canceled as the water would not return in time. He believes the hospital has its own tanks to serve existing patients but does not want to take on new patients due to the shortage.
Ms Wilson acknowledged the situation was out of the hospital’s control but said knowing she would have to prepare to undergo the operation again was “the biggest thing”.
“I wish SEW had been a little more realistic about the timings,” he said. “Someone should have been able to do some rough calculations; you shouldn’t promise too much.”
Ms Wilson, herself a Tunbridge Wells resident, has been living without a water supply in her own home since Saturday evening and said it was “not easy”.
She had to wash her face and hands in the sinks at her daughter’s school five miles away and began flushing buckets of water down the toilet to flush the waste away.
But he said he was mostly concerned about elderly and vulnerable people suffering alone and without access to water.
“I don’t want to complain too much, people have it much worse than us,” he said. “There must be elderly people who are vulnerable and don’t have family nearby.
“It’s not improbable to think there might be people who don’t survive this.”
On Tuesday Age UK Tunbridge Wells published an appeal for spare water bottles that could be used to help vulnerable customers. Chief executive Sandra Springett said: Independent The charity had to cancel its nursery service on Monday after its building was left without water, but managed to restart operations on Tuesday.
He added that staff were delivering hot meals and checking on vulnerable residents despite difficult conditions.
“Fortunately, the majority of people we come into contact with are supported by neighbours, friends, family and other independent organizations like us who intervene where necessary,” he said.
But Ms. Springett added that the problem “isn’t really solved by a six-pack of sparkling water.”
“Kettles need to be filled, toilet cisterns need to be filled and dealing with large water bottles is not easy for everyone,” she continued. “Disruptions to daily routines cannot be taken lightly, especially for older people who often try to live independently.”
SEW said it was “very unlikely” it would be able to reintroduce supplies Tuesday to all customers currently without water after the water quality issues that caused the closure resurfaced.
It added that it had opened a number of bottled water stations and staff “continued to distribute bottled water to over 2,000 of our most vulnerable customers on our PSR register.”
“We continue to transport water through our network and have tanked more than 6.5 million liters of water into the city and distributed more than 400,000 liters of bottled water to supply as many customers as possible,” he added.
A spokesman for Nuffield Hospital said: “We can confirm a water outage affecting the Tunbridge Wells area is beyond our control and is affecting the water supply to our hospital.
“As a precaution, we have rescheduled non-emergency procedures to preserve reserve water reserves for essential maintenance only. We are working closely with local authorities and await updates on the solution.”
