Latest update - Tuesday 10 February, 5pm

University Hospital Southampton has today stood down the major incident that was declared as a result of the fire that broke out in the west wing of Southampton General Hospital on February 1.

Following the evacuation of 500 patients to safe spaces across the rest of the hospital in the immediate aftermath, we have worked with partners to ensure displaced patients receive the safe care they need and have been working to restart services where possible.

Some of our services remain impacted as a result of a large part of our estate being severely damaged.

We will be in touch directly with patients whose appointments are disrupted and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If we do not contact you please attend your appointments as planned.

We have now moved into a recovery phase with our services remaining under pressure, as we are currently working with 150 fewer beds than we would normally have. We would continue to ask that you consider other urgent treatment services including pharmacy first and urgent treatment centres if your condition is not life or limb threatening and also support the discharge of loved ones. This allows us to free up vital beds for those who need our care the most.

We remain grateful to our community and regional partners for all their support throughout the management of this incident.

Our thanks go to our staff for their hard work and dedication in enabling us to return as many services as possible, so we can continue to provide safe care for our patients.

Latest update - Tuesday 3 February, 5.40pm

A spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton, said: “University Hospital Southampton remains on major incident today as we continue our response to the fire in the west wing of Southampton General Hospital on Sunday morning.

“The building has now been handed back to the Trust by the fire service, who have concluded their investigation and confirmed the cause of the fire was electrical.

“A number of our wards remain closed due to fire, smoke or water damage following the incident, with 200 bed spaces currently unavailable.

“In the immediate response, 502 patients were quickly moved to safe areas across our hospital site by staff. Until Sunday evening, around 200 of those patients had to be cared for in public spaces, including corridors, as we worked to discharge patients, transfer some to other hospitals and repurpose other areas of our estate to enable us to continue to provide safe care.

“As we work to recover following the fire, thanks to the dedication and hard work of our staff, we have reopened our Emergency Department and resumed a limited amount of elective surgery, prioritising the most urgent cases.

“The majority of outpatient appointments are going ahead and we are asking patients to continue to attend the hospital as planned unless they have been contacted directly.

“Our teams are also working hard to reunite patients moved during the fire with their personal belongings. We are asking people to please contact the Patient and Family Support Hub on 0800 4840135 to arrange collection.”

Monday, 2 February, 10.40am

A spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton, said: “University Hospital Southampton remains in a major incident today following a fire in the West Wing of Southampton General Hospital yesterday morning.

“When the fire broke out approximately 200 patients were quickly moved to safe areas of the hospital including corridor spaces during the emergency. Following a considerable effort throughout yesterday in repurposing all available space in our hospitals, last night all of those patients were being cared for in beds and on wards. The majority remained in Southampton General Hospital, but some patients were transported to hospitals across the area last night in a coordinated mutual aid response with healthcare partners and supported by SCAS.

“We would like to thank all our partners and the hospitals who helped make this possible – we are extremely grateful for their support.

“Thanks to the considerable effort of staff and following approval from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service we have been able to access, ventilate and clean some areas of the affected West Wing wards and safely move a number of patients back there.

“The fire and subsequent damage to our site has resulted in some patients who had to be moved now being without their personal belongings, including mobile phones.

“We understand the anxiety this is causing relatives and want to reassure them we have a dedicated team of staff in our Patient Support Hub working to recover belongings when it is safe to do so and make contact with next of kin.

“UHS has a robust emergency plan which is enacted when any incident is declared. The Trust’s incident management team have been working together to coordinate the response to this fire since the alarm was raised at 5.30am on Sunday.

“We would like to take this opportunity to recognise the heroic efforts of our staff in the immediate aftermath of yesterday’s fire, in particular those who swiftly moved patients to safety when the fire broke out.

“The situation has been extremely challenging and we are continuing to work with partners as we continue to prioritise safe patient care.

“Our Emergency Department remains closed this morning unless your condition is life or limb threatening.

“We have had to cancel a significant amount of planned elective surgery and some outpatient appointments today. All affected patients have been contacted directly. If you have an appointment and have not been contacted, you should attend the hospital as planned today.

“Visiting has today resumed as usual – please check visiting hours with the ward."

A video of the damage is available to view on YouTube here: UHS E Level West Wing fire damage, February 2026

The scale of the damage caused by the fire on Sunday morning

Sunday 1 February, 4.30pm

A spokesperson for University Hospital Southampton, said: “We would like to thank our staff, healthcare partners and community for how they have responded to the major incident we declared earlier today following a fire at Southampton General Hospital.

“As part of the emergency response, our staff moved more than 200 patients to other areas of our hospital where they are being cared for. Our focus continues to be safe patient care and moving them to other wards and departments across our site.

We have identified a number of patients who are able to be discharged today and families are being contacted to make suitable arrangements for their collection.

“The impact of the fire has been significant and will limit our ability to fulfil all planned activity tomorrow.

“This means that some operations will have to be cancelled and we will be contacting all patients affected to make them aware, by telephone, email or text today.

“Anyone with an outpatient appointment tomorrow is asked to attend as planned, unless they hear directly from us today (Sunday).”

Sunday 1 February, 1pm

The fire broke out within our endoscopy unit at around 5.30am.

We evacuated approximately 200 patients from the affected area of the hospital who are currently being cared for in others areas, including in corridors.

No patients or staff were injured in the fire.

We understand news of the fire and subsequent evacuation will cause anxiety for relatives keen to find out how their loved ones are where they are now situated within the hospital.

We are working hard to utilise all available space and move patients into other wards and departments where possible.

Our telephone lines are exceptionally busy and would ask people to bear with us and refrain from calling unless urgent.

Our Emergency Department is still receiving patients from the immediate vicinity whose condition is deemed life or limb threatening but asking anyone needing urgent treatment to go elsewhere and utilise the Urgent Treatment Centres at the Royal South Hants hospital in Southampton and Lymington, visit local pharmacies or call and take advice from 111.

The fire has caused significant damage to part of the hospital site which will have a knock on effect in the immediate coming days in relation to some outpatient appointments. All appointments today have been cancelled and patients should wait to hear from us directly.

We are asking visitors to stay away from Southampton General Hospital today as we continue to respond to the incident.

Sunday 1 February, 9am

A major incident has been declared at University Hospital Southampton this morning following a fire.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service were called to Southampton General Hospital at 5.30am and the fire has now been contained.

Nobody has been injured as a result of the fire and patients in all affected areas have been evacuated to safe areas of the hospital.

Roads surrounding the hospital have been closed by emergency services.

Visitors are asked to stay away and all planned outpatient appointments are cancelled today.

Parking is being made available on site for staff who are coming into work.

Our Emergency Department is currently diverting patients away unless your condition is deemed life or limb threatening.

We are asking anyone requiring medical attention to use other services in the community including the Urgent Treatment Centre at RSH or Lymington.

We will be keeping this website page, and our social media channels updated.