Stone town centre was hit by a power cut today, forcing many businesses to close early and badly affecting Cumberland House GP surgery on the High Street.
Power was lost at about 9.45am this morning (Wednesday 17th November) and affected around 170 homes and businesses according to energy company e.on in the ST15 8 and ST15 5 postcodes.
Much of the bottom end of the High Street was affected, with shops including Mayfair dry cleaners and Swinton Insurance closing early. The Olives restaurant was unable to open tonight due to the power cut.
Cumberland House GP surgery in the High Street was badly affected. Lights, heating, computers and the phones all went down, leaving staff with the huge task of trying to contact as many patients as possible to cancel appointments. The surgery remained open all day – being lit by a couple of torches for about 90 minutes – so that emergency cases could still be seen and to enable patients to pick up repeat prescriptions.
Dr Richard Payne said: “It’s got a lot harder as the light’s faded but we’ve done the best we can. There’ll obviously be a backlog of patients to be seen now but we’ll have to deal with that.”
People calling the surgery today were automatically diverted to the Barlaston branch, where many patients were seen. Although the phones were working in Barlaston, the computers had gone down because they are linked to the Stone surgery, leading to more headaches for staff there.
The Regency House dental surgery next door was also affected, with all appointments cancelled and staff sent home at about 3pm as the light started to fade.
E.on workers appeared to be working on the problem in Stone and power was restored at about 5.30pm.
Let’s hope there’s no repeat tomorrow – it’s Christmas lights switch-on night!
