MERSEYSIDE hospital chiefs have reacted with anger at the suggestion their buildings are infested with pests.
The Conservative party yesterday revealed results from a Freedom of Information request, showing six of the region’s hospitals have called in pest controllers more than 50 times between January, 2006, and March, 2008. But several trusts have hit back, claiming the information is misleading.
The results also reveal Also revealed are cases or suspected cases of mice, rats, cockroaches and bedbugs within local hospital trusts.
Clatterbridge, Liverpool Royal and Broadgreen, Alder Hey, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals and Arrowe Park all reported cases of ants, with 80% of trusts nationwide. And Alder Hey, Southport and Ormskirk and Arrowe Park reported cases of rats, along with 66% of trusts.
The Conservative’s data also shows problems with bluebottles at Southport hospital’s mortuary and cases from their pupae being found, suggesting a previous infection of maggots. Infestations of fleas and bedbugs were also mentioned.
A spokesman for Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust said: "To imply our hos- pitals are filthy is completely wrong. It has been suggested our hospitals have fleas and bed bugs. Fleas live on people; they do not live in buildings and because, in an emergency situation, we do not exclude anyone, it is not possible to ensure they are totally clean and free from infestation at the time of admission.
"We have never reported bed bugs on our wards and have never had a problem with this. We had a problem in our staff accommoda- tion and this was traced to one individual person who brought the bugs into the residence with their belongings."
The mortuary is public and the condition that bodies arrive in cannot be controlled, but isola- tion areas are set up for these. such cases.
Talib Yaseen, deputy chief exec- utive for the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Like any large organisation we have a respons-ible and sensible approach to pest control. We are concern- ed the figures released yesterday could cause unnecessary alarm to the public and patients. The figures don’t explain where pests might have been found and could give a misleading impression. Figures for the Royal and Broadgreen relate to non-patient areas in the majority of cases. There is no question of pests ever putting our patients’ health, safety or well-being at risk.
"The figures also relate to things like ants and flies and like many homeowners, we can find them in our buildings – particularly in the summer. What is important to remember is that we have the right meas- ures in place to deal with them quickly and effectively."
He added the hospitals have weekly visits from a pest control company as a preventative measure.
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley saidclaims the results reveal Government failings: "Lab- our have said over and over again they will imp- rove cleanliness in our hosp- itals, but these figures clearly show they are failing."
