Nurses called by old bells at SA hospital

A technical problem has forced patients at a rural South Australian hospital to use old-fashioned bells to call for a nurse instead of an electronic system.

The bells have been ringing at Bordertown Memorial Hospital for three weeks as a fault with its call system has been investigated, Country Health SA says.

The authority's south east regional director Jayne Downs says call system faults are not uncommon but this issue with a specific part has been "more tricky" to diagnose than most.

She says none of the hospital's dozens of general and aged care patients have been put at risk by the old bell "workaround" as nurses have been checking in with them more often.

"The wonderful nurses and care workers are going out of their way to make sure that everybody is OK and checking on them very, very frequently," she said.

"That's the most important always, more important than whether a bell will ring."

She said the modern call system is expected to be back in operation soon, with a new part likely to have arrived and be installed on Tuesday.