Photo: LDR / Stephen Forbes
Auckland's Middlemore Hospital had to turn ambulances away on Tuesday because of a burst pipe in the emergency department.
A hospital spokesperson said the water pipe burst above the ED at about 8.30am causing minor flooding.
Senior managers made the decision to divert ambulances to Auckland Hospital for about two and a half hours, the spokesperson said.
The leak was fixed quickly but then cleaners and other staff had to clean and dry the area.
It was not clear how many patients had to be diverted but it was a quiet time of day, the spokesperson said.
The department was about 85 percent full and still accepting walk-in patients, he said.
The ED is in the McIndoe building which is one of a number at the hospital that are being repaired because they are damp, mouldy and leaky.
The incident comes a fortnight after Auckland Hospital was so busy that it had to divert ambulances to Middlemore and North Shore.
All of the city's emergency departments continue to be very busy, partly because hospitals are very full, meaning there is a backlog of patients waiting to be admitted to a ward.