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Hospitals fully address pest control problems
31/05/2012
Health chiefs in Sussex have taken steps to address concerns raised by a report in the Sun on Sunday that rat droppings were found near kitchen areas in two local hospitals.
The paper reported that rat droppings had been found at both Southlands Hospital in Shoreham and at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead. Representative of both of the hospitals have confirmed, however, that the incidents in the report happened a long time ago and, since then, extensive pest control measures have been implemented and the areas repeatedly disinfected.
Janet Coverdale, from the Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Southlands, said that the kitchen service at the hospital was closed down more than a year ago due to scaling back of facilities but that they were still taking every precaution to keep vermin at bay.
“Clearly, it is inevitable that in any large building complex there will be pest control challenges throughout the year, but we go to great lengths to combat these challenges,” she said. “We employ specialist pest control services to minimise the potential of any problems, and we ensure there are routine inspections of all our sites every month.”
A spokeswoman for Queen Victoria Hospital said that the pest control concern at the hospital was raised “following three consecutive years of excellent ratings from local environmental health officers”.
“We were already in the process of addressing the points raised,” she explained. “Environmental health officers were satisfied that appropriate action had been completed at a follow-up inspection a few days later.”
