Flinders Medical Centre blackout caused by aging infrastructure, external review finds

Technicians were called to the site to fix the electrical problem during the outage in August. (ABC News: James Wakelin )

A failure to replace aging electrical infrastructure, including a fuse switch that was almost 50 years old, has been blamed for a blackout at Flinders Medical Centre earlier this year.

An external review has found the power outage on August 22 was caused by a short circuit within a transformer, and a fuse switch which failed to isolate the fault.

The report said the transformer was 30 years old, beyond its rated life of 25 years, but within the recommended limits of plus or minus five years, and the fuse switch was too old and should have been replaced.

When asked by the ABC, SA Health confirmed the fuse switch was 47 years old.

The review was ordered by the state government in the wake of the blackout, which saw the hospital switch to back-up generator power.

At the time, some patients had to be shifted to a private facility on the same site and the community was urged to find alternative health care options where possible until back up power was established.

SA Health said work to replace the aged electrical systems, as well as equipment damaged by the blackout, has already been identified as part of the Southern Redevelopment Project, which is a $400 million upgrade to Flinders Medical Centre.

The new electrical equipment is expected to be operational by March 2024, and until then a temporary generator brought in two days after the power outage will remain in place.

The review also recommended better and more regular testing of electrical equipment and infrastructure at the hospital to identify any faults, including “black start” testing which is a process of simulating a power failure.

The Southern Adelaide Local Health Network said black start testing would also be implemented at Noarlunga Hospital and the Repat Health Precinct.