Russells Hall Hospital A&E forced to close after 'chemical' incident
Russells Hall Hospital's A&E department was temporarily closed on Thursday night after a man reportedly walked declaring he had "anthrax".
At least eight police cars descended on the Dudley hospital, while ambulance crews were forced to drop patients elsewhere until the situation was declared safe.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We were alerted to a temporary closure of the A&E Department at Russells Hall Hospital last night (Thursday).
"The Trust deployed two paramedic officers to the scene to assist hospital staff. We implemented standard procedures to divert ambulances to New Cross, Walsall and Sandwell Hospitals and in the end, only five patients had to be diverted."
The spokesman added: "The A&E Department reopened at 8.15pm."
The UK Health Security Agency were called to Russells Hall Hospital to check whether the substance was real or not.
West Midlands consultant in health protection, Caryn Cox said: "UKHSA was made aware of an item which was understood to contain an unconfirmed antique sample of bacteria, in a sealed slide.
"Based on the information given, we risk assessed the situation and determined it was not an immediate risk to the public or hospital staff and advised the hospital of a safe and appropriate method of disposal.”
A Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: "The accident and emergency department at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley was temporarily closed to the public for around 50 minutes earlier this evening (Thursday 23 December) due to a police incident.
"Ambulances were diverted to other local hospitals during the incident, before the facility reopened at around 8.15pm."
Several patients went on social media to say they had been told it was "an anthrax scare".
Gemma Yildirim said on Facebook: "I just been in A&E and I asked the doctor he said anthrax." Others said it was definitely a hoax with the white powder "being powder".
Anthrax is one of the most deadly poisons on the planet and has been used in terrorist attacks. However, it is very hard to procure in the UK and anthrax attacks are incredibly rare.
Police officers remained on the scene for several hours after A&E reopened.
Tanya Wilkinson saw police cars hurtling towards the accident and emergency department.
She said: "There’s was three on the road and about eight going down towards the A&E about 9.30pm."
