NHS maternity wards ‘are infested with thousands of pests including rats and cockroaches’
There were nearly 5,000 pest control call-outs to hospitals in England in 2015/16
HOSPITAL wards, including maternity departments, are infested with thousands of pests including rats and cockroaches.
Figures have laid bare the increasing problem and the spiralling costs of trying to eradicate the unwanted visitors.
Data obtained under Freedom of Information laws shows there were nearly 5,000 pest control call-outs by NHS trusts to hospitals in England in 2015/16 - about 13 every day.
Pests have been spotted in ares including maternity wards, children's intensive care units and operating theatres.
Trying to eradicate them cost hospitals at least £1.1 million in the year to March 2016.
The true cost of removing rodents and unwanted bugs is likely to be much higher as only 87 of about 150 trusts responded to the information request.
Like-for-like data from 48 trusts that provided figures in both 2011/12 and 2015/16, showed a rise of more than 26 per cent from £646,857 to £815,855.
Spending at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust in London almost doubled between 2011/12 and 2015/16, from £67,425 to £132,210 - by far the highest of the trusts which responded.
A spokesman from Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust said: "We take all pest control matters very seriously and deal with them swiftly.
"As a large provider of health services in London, the importance of high standards of cleanliness means a robust approach to incidents and prevention is absolutely essential."
University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust and Pennine Acute Hospitals (PAH) NHS Trust each recorded more than 300 incidents in 2015/16.
Pest sightings at UHL, which treats more than one million patients every year, more than trebled from 104 in 2011/12 to 337 in 2015/16.
These included cockroaches found in the fifth level of the Infirmary's Windsor building, which houses the specialist medicine admissions unit and elderly patient wards, rodents spotted in the maternity block and insects sighted in operating theatres.
Across the four hospitals run by the Pennine Acute Hospitals trust in the Greater Manchester area, there were 302 pest sightings in the last year, marking a fall from 346 in 2011/12.
Reports between April 2015 and March 2016 included a cockroach "infestation" in a day surgery ward, maggots found in the accident and emergency ward kitchen and a call logged from laundry which read "Urgent - there are lots of cockroaches".
Darryn Kerr, director of estates and facilities at Leicester's Hospitals, said: "We manage 270,000 square meters of floor space across our three hospitals which cover 30 acres of land, and are visited by over 1 million patients and another 1 million visitors each year.
"Occasionally, we have unwelcome visitors (everything from bats to badgers) who have tried to take up residence in parts of our estate. We deal with these issues when they arise and they do not affect the quality of our patient care."
A spokesperson for PAH NHS Trust said: "Recent mild winters have seen an increase in vermin across the country.
"We take patient, staff and visitor safety seriously and deploy preventative measures to pest control by employing a pest control contractor to visit each of our four hospitals every week, particularly in areas where our facilities are susceptible to vermin.
"We have also introduced additional housekeeping measures as well, such as frequently emptying bins and cleaning across our sites.
"We always act very promptly to deal with any pests that are reported to us."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "Hospitals must have an effective pest control policy and the use of experts is good practice to ensure that buildings are kept clean and safe for patients."
Yesterday Sun Online published footage showing a huge rat running around a window display in a Primark store.
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