A hospital was forced to cancel operations after a power cut left it without mains supply for seven hours.

Wishaw General in North Lanarkshire faced the disruption on Thursday morning from about 8.45am until 4pm.

The power failure meant one emergency patient had to be redirected to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride for treatment.

A spokeswoman for NHS Lanarkshire confirmed that a total of six operations had to be postponed.

Outpatient clinics and IT systems were also affected, though backup generators were used until the mains connection was restored.

NHS Lanarkshire chief executive Calum Campbell apologised to patients whose procedures had been delayed.

He said: "In the interest of patient safety and as a precautionary measure, we took the decision to reschedule a small number of surgical procedures based on clinical priority.

"The power interruption impacted on our diagnostic and IT systems, which have now been fully restored.

"As a result, some outpatient clinics have been affected and one emergency patient was redirected to Hairmyres Hospital.

"This is in line with our business and emergency continuity plans which worked to good effect."

All affected patients have had their appointments rescheduled.