A woman from Beaconsfield was shocked to find ‘no running water’ in any of the toilets at Wycombe Hospital while visiting her father this week.

Joanne Smalley, 45, first discovered the lack of water access at the hospital on Queen Alexandra Road after her father was moved there from Stoke Mandeville on Saturday (June 15).

She found it odd, she said, that both the men's and women’s toilets in the hospital reception were “barricaded with black and yellow tape”, and even more strange that upon further investigation, a sink in a nearby x-ray room also had a sign warning visitors not to use it.

Yesterday (June 19), Joanne investigated further, checking whether any of the taps in the hospital’s wards were in operation – only to find that just two were working, both with filters attached.

The taps in the patient’s toilet on her father’s ward also had ‘do not use’ signs on them, and she was told that both showers were out of order.

(Image: Joanne Smalley)

The 45-year-old believes there must be “a problem with the water supply in the building”, something she described as “astounding” and an indication of the “dreadful, broken state” of the National Health Service.

“Post-COVID, I am absolutely gobsmacked that there would be no running water in a hospital except through external filters.

“The treatment my father has received from hospital staff has been outstanding across the board, from the doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants, but it’s obvious that the system is on its knees.

(Image: Joanne Smalley)

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“I spoke to workers at a stall in the reception celebrating ‘fertility heroes’ earlier this week and asked them why there was no water in the building, and they just said ‘Sorry, we don’t know’. The gall of it is astounding.

“It’s a hospital and it’s meant to be keeping people safe. If a cafe had no running water, it would have been shut down.”  

A spokesperson for the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust said: "We recently identified an issue with the water in some parts of Wycombe Hospital.  The safety of patients and staff is our main priority and experts advised us to fit filters to taps and showers, as a precautionary measure, to provide a protective barrier and ensure the water is safe to use.

(Image: Joanne Smalley)

"Unfortunately, due to the age of our estate, we could not fit filters to all of our taps and showers so in these areas we have provided alternative sources of water.

"We are in the process of carrying out the necessary repairs and are undertaking water samples to show us that it is safe to remove the temporary filters and resume using the older taps and showers again. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused."