Prince George, B.C.- A routine monthly check of   the power system at the University Hospital  of Northern B.C. this morning found a problem that caused intermittent  power fluctuations through some of the  systems at the hospital resulting in delays and possible cancellations of some elective surgeries.

“It impacted some things like  the elevators and our patient data system” says Steve Raper,  Manager of Communications for Northern Health.

With patient safety the  number one concern, Raper says some elective surgeries were impacted and some may have been cancelled, ” Hopefully we can minimize that  or lengthen out the day, but they are working through that  right now”.

The power issue has now been resolved , but Raper says anyone with a non urgent  situation heading to UHNBC  should expect some delays as  staff work  through the backlog.

While the power has been fully restored, Raper says it takes time to bring everything back on  line  “It will have a little bit of time to work through some of the systems.”   Raper says if there is anything positive from this, it’s that  the problem was identified during a routine testing “So  we can look at  it and say  what can we do to make sure  this  doesn’t happen again.”