Liberty Hospital ER diverting patients to other facilities due to IT issue
LIBERTY, Mo. (KCTV) - Liberty Hospital’s emergency room was not accepting patients Tuesday afternoon as the facility dealt with “an information technology event.”
Emergency room staff said that they were transporting patients to other hospitals and their ambulances were shutting down.
“As we actively investigate the source of the disruption, we are unable to estimate how long the computer issue will last,” the hospital said shortly after 5 p.m. “Currently, our team is confirming the impact to our services and we are working to restore functionality as soon as possible. The safety of our patients is our utmost priority.”
The Kansas City Fire Department said it transported approximately 30 patients to other locations and Liberty EMS transported an additional 10-15 as well.
As of 5 p.m., the hospital asked people to seek emergency care at other hospital emergency departments.
UPDATE: Central Jackson County Fire - Rescue has also dedicated two Ambulances to the “Regional Mutual Aid Request” they say Liberty Hospital sent out around 10:00am. They too have moved multiple patients throughout the day to other facilities. I’ll be LIVE on @KCTV5 the latest. pic.twitter.com/7olyV5tzMR
— Alex Love (@AlexKCTV5) December 19, 2023
“Patient safety remains our utmost concern. We are in the process of evaluating every patient to ensure they receive the highest quality of care and to determine next steps, which may include transfer to another facility,” the hospital stated in a release.
The hospital staffer said the ER is not able to perform its normal functions, but KCTV5 has yet to learn the root cause of that issue.
Grace Conley said she got the call this morning that her friend, who is on life support in the ICU needed to be moved because of “computerized issues.” He was one of the 40-45 patients transported.
“It was shocking because we thought this was going to be one of the days where he might wake up and now, he’s moving,” Conley said.
Conley said it’s a scary situation but is glad doctors were able to transport him to KU Medical Center.
“It is quite shocking that it happened, you have someone who could be seriously injured and there’s nothing they can do,” Conley said. “I mean they can’t just do an ultrasound, or the doctor has to be there to see it because everything is computerized now.”
Hospital staff said they are working to find the source of what caused the technical issues.
Editor’s Note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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