{"id":28458,"date":"2026-05-04T19:51:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/28458\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T19:51:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:51:37","slug":"darent-valley-hospital-water-safety-notice-remains-in-place-for-sixth-day-after-fault-with-heating-system-led-to-potential-contamination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/28458\/","title":{"rendered":"Darent Valley Hospital water safety notice remains in place for sixth day after fault with heating system led to potential contamination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Patients, staff and visitors at a hospital can still not drink water from taps or use it to wash for a sixth day in a row.<\/p>\n

The west block of Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, which represents approximately half of the hospital site, has had a water safety notice in place for nearly a week.<\/p>\n

\"The\"TheThe notice inside Darent Valley Hospital<\/p>\n

It follows reports the supply issue has prompted “horrendous” working conditions including staff having to resort to cleaning patients with wet wipes, \u201cno clean crockery\u201d and issues maintaining cleanliness without running water.<\/p>\n

One patient who discharged herself commented online that nurses in Linden Ward were under immense pressure, and it “broke her heart” watching them struggle.<\/p>\n

She praised the care she received but said the nurses and staff are having to work in “horrendous conditions”.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s prompted the town\u2019s MP Jim Dickson to get involved.<\/p>\n

Responding directly to a complaint issued online, the Labour MP said he was sorry to hear of the patient\u2019s \u201cdistressing experience\u201d and had written to the chief executive of the hospital to ask what plans they have in place to ensure wards can safely operate.<\/p>\n

\"A\"AA Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust spokesperson said the issue arose from an internal fault within the hospital heating system<\/p>\n

Mr Dickson told KentOnline today it was \u201cfast becoming an urgent situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

“I have been in touch with the hospital management this weekend to understand the problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate this is incredibly difficult for patients and staff alike. I have been reassured that portable sinks are in place to enable handwashing and bottled water is available.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be speaking to the CEO this week to understand the timeline for this to be fully resolved.<\/p>\n

“Dartford residents need to be reassured that a plan is in place for this to be swiftly dealt with. I will be working with the hospital to get these reassurances.”<\/p>\n

Bosses first became aware of an issue on Tuesday (April 28) and on Wednesday a water safety notice was issued publicly warning people not to use certain taps until further notice.<\/p>\n

A Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust spokesperson said earlier this week the issue arose from an internal fault within the hospital heating system \u201cwhich led to potential contamination of the hot and cold water network\u201d.<\/p>\n

This morning (May 4), the notice was still up on the Trust\u2019s website, marking the sixth full day of the water notice.<\/p>\n

Previously, a spokesperson said bottled water was being distributed across affected areas for hot and cold drinks, with portable handwashing sinks in place for hand washing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafe drinking water and washing facilities are available from the rest of the hospital unaffected by the disruption,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank everyone for their patience while these measures remain in place to ensure safety and will be constantly reviewing our management plans over the days ahead to maintain services and plan for return of supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another visitor, who has a family member in The Mulberry Ward, told KentOnline her father-in-law has been unable to get a cup of tea because of the water issues, despite there being bottled water.<\/p>\n

\"Labour\"LabourLabour MP for Dartford Jim Dickson has raised concerns<\/p>\n

She also said there are large queues for the toilet, and said there are delays in cleaning vulnerable patients with incontinence issues amid the lack of washing facilities.<\/p>\n

The Trust said on Thursday the fault had been addressed and work to restore normal water service was progressing \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d but maintaining staff and patient safety was \u201cour highest priority\u201d.<\/p>\n

The safety notice says: \u201cWe are currently managing a water supply issue affecting parts of the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a precaution, please do not drink water for taps or use it for washing in affected areas until further notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAffected areas will have clear labels on taps to remind you not to use them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlternative arrangements are in place and staff will be available to direct you to areas where it is safe to drink water and wash.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Thames Water spokesperson said its engineers investigated the issue but said it related to \u201can internal matter within the hospital\u2019s own system\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no reports of any problems on our network affecting the hospital\u2019s supply,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patients, staff and visitors at a hospital can still not drink water from taps or use it to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1085,1070,96,529,309,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-28458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-dartford","9":"tag-gravesham","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-human-interest","12":"tag-kent","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116518052358695150","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}