POOLE Hospital has apologised after a power failure put all its direct dial telephone numbers out of action for more than three hours yesterday.

The problem meant that the only way for outside callers to get through was via the hospital’s already busy switchboard.

A small number of internal extensions were also affected by the fault.

A spokeswoman for the trust said: “We did have a temporary problem, which started around 10am and was resolved about 1.15pm.

We have equipment on site so that if this happens, we can usually sort it out very quickly.

Yesterday, due to particular circumstances, we had to bring someone in from off site.

“The majority of calls did still get through; it was just that they had to go through the switchboard.

“We apologise to anyone who was unable to get through or had to wait for their call to get through.”