A CRITICAL cable that provides internet, including routine radiology and pathology services, to the Flinders Medical Centre has been restored after almost eight hours offline.

Doctors say the incident, caused on Wednesday afternoon by people working on the $620 million Darlington Upgrade Project, “posed a danger to patients” and should have been avoided.

A statement provided to The Advertiser by the Transport Department at 10.15pm Wednesday night confirmed a “fibre optic cable was damaged when removing a tree stump on the Darlington Upgrade project”.

“Regrettably this disrupted communications services to Flinders Medical Centre and some other businesses in the vicinity,” it said.

At 10.40pm, another statement announced the problem had been fixed.

“We reiterate our sincere apologies for the disruption and inconvenience caused and we will diligently investigate the causes of the fibre strike to prevent future recurrence,” the statement said.

A Southern Adelaide Local Health Network spokeswoman said “there had been no adverse impacts to patient care”.

“There has been disruption to some IT services at the Flinders Medical Centre,” she said.

“X-rays can still be taken and viewed, the Patient Administration System is functioning as per normal and contingency plans are in place for IT systems affected by the external incident.

“Any urgent pathology tests and results can be done on-site.”

SA Salaried Medical Officers Association president Dr David Pope said “the (hospital’s) radiology system and the pathology Oasis systems” could not be accessed and patient care was at risk during the incident.

“It’s terrible for the patient,” he said.

“It will dramatically reduce the capacity for doctors to work out what’s wrong with people — which poses a danger to patients.”

Dr Pope said no internet connection at the FMC “substantially reduced the capacity to take (X-Ray) images”.

“A delayed diagnosis ... can lead to death and other severe outcomes for patients,” he said.

Dr Pope said the cable cut highlighted “the vulnerability of our hospitals”.

“If a link is cut like this or in a natural disaster, the capacity of the hospitals to function is dramatically reduced,” he said.

“It’s a requirement of the (Darlington) builder to know where the cables are and not to cut them.”

Last month, a private contractor working nearby Flinders Private accidentally cut power to the hospital and its generator kicked in but no patient care was compromised.