Hospitals in the West Midlands are being plagued by rodents and insects, it was revealed today.
NHS health trusts have reported more than a thousand incidents of pest infestation on wards in the last two years. The Royal Wolverhampton, Dudley Group, Sandwell and West Birmingham and Mid Staffordshire General are just some of the trusts which have suffered from outbreaks of rats, mice, cockroaches and ants.
Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust called in pest controllers 18 times between January 2006 and April 2008 to also deal with infestations of wasps, flies, squirrels and pigeons – including repeated infestations of ants in the eye clinic.
The alarm was raised at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS trust on 162 occasions to eradicate invasions by vermin, fleas, squirrels, red spider mites and silverfish.
The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust said its hospitals have monthly pest control inspections.
It called in pest controllers 53 times to deal with a series of outbreaks including “unspecified rodents”, while Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust recorded 85 incidents.
The details were obtained and released by the Tories.
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust reported 250 incidents, including wasps in the neo-natal unit, flying ants on the main wards and mosquitoes in the endoscopy department.
Examples from around the country included one horrified patient waking-up to find maggots in her slippers.
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Labour have said over and over again that they will improve cleanliness in our hospitals but these figures clearly show that they are failing.”
7 Comments
WARS AN RUMOURS OF WARS EARTHQUAKES BIBLE COMING TO PASS PESTILENCE IN THE LAND!!!!!!PLAGUES
Having taken my parents in February to New Cross out patients, I couldn’t believe the stench of stale urine. After many hours waiting and finally leaving in the dark and after 6pm watched the cleaners mop (well if you call it mopping),with no disinfectant in their buckets. The NHS is a disgrace, I worry myself that my parents may one day have to be admitted to the dump and won’t come out, not because of an illness, but because of something they caught in there.
The CEO, Managers etc. should be done for running a filthy building, they should be prosecuted if any deaths are related to MRSA and above all, they should all have pay cuts.
erhaps if the hospital reduced visiting hours there would not be so many problems, all afternnon visiting is not neccesary and gives little time for proper cleaning of hospitals, and little rest for patients, visitors bring in so many ‘bugs’ and blaim MRSA on the hospital when it is actually carried in by visitors, having lost my mom to MRSA I do not blame the hospital for it’s Hygiene but visitors sitting on beds, flounting the rules of 2 at a time, and not giving the nurses the respect they need, they are not CLEANERS, they are nurses, we are a nation that is infested with rats and other vermin I vow anyone to sit on a McDonalds Car Park and not see a rat, especially at Great Bridge, we as a nation are our own worst enemy for litter and it is easy to see on visiting Sandwell Hospital having to fight your way through smokers and discarded food to get in, no wonder we have rats, you could say that cleaners should pick it up, but if the public were more effcient in disposing of their own rubbish we would not have this problem. Come on members of the public get a life and all pull together to lve in a cleaner place and stop passing the buck. I have seen as many as 6 round a bed all munching on crisps well into the evening, poor patiant to ill to be say anything and sometimes just wants them to go home, all those crumbs go on the floor until next day cleaning………..
The hospitals have no excuse. They are downright filthy. They are fully aware of the standards required. If they don’t meet the standards then it is entirely due to their laziness, sloppy attitude, lack of professionalism etc… not to mention the doctors who should be sounding the alarm, but they are far too involved in their golf club subscription renewals to be concerned about mere patients
having been in hospital twice for major ops the biggest problem is the heat ideal for breeding of germs turn it down
A few years ago I used to work for my local NHS trust where one of my duties was cleaning. It is no surprise to me that since cleaning was contracted outside the NHS we have seen a dramatic rise in MRSA and other diseases along with dirty hospitals.
I expect to keep reading stories like this until the government actually take hospital cleanliness seriously and hand the responsibility back to the NHS. Without clean hospitals, no operations and clinics can take place. I was trained properly and there were thorough checks made by senior staff. But you only have to look at the wages domestic hospital cleaners get paid; the old saying goes - pay peanuts get monkeys.
Having read some of the other input I agree that the contact cleaners are not as good but don’t lay all the blame on the cleanes, just take a ook when visiting, see how many people wash their hands as requested to do so, not many I can assure so if they bring back the old system I would applaud them yes a Matron and a sister who is allowed to run the ward, not have to fill in forms to request that a bottle is repaced, the NHS has gone mad, but also just look at the public as well, they contribute to this problem seriously, get rid of this visiting times, do they really have to sit round a bed all afternoon and evening, do they visit the patient that much when they are well and at home, I doubt it, I have been in Sandwell and the one in the Bristol Road, had treatment at Dudley Road, but don’t blame it all on the staff…. and NO I am not Saff at any hospital, just a concerned person who feels it’s wrong to blame people who do provide a damn good service, try this abroad and see what reatment you would get, how many people choose to live abroad but come back once they are ill, so don’t knock the NHS too much just try to help in any way you can…..