5,000 call-outs a year over rats and bugs in hospitals
THOUSANDS of pests including cockroaches, rats, insects and maggots are being found in NHS hospitals each year.
The cost of tackling the problem has spiralled over the past five years with vermin seen in maternity wards, child intensive care units and operating theatres.
Data obtained under Freedom of Information laws shows there were nearly 5,000 pest control call-outs to hospitals in England in 2015-16. This is equivalent to around 13 a day.
The cost was nearly £1.1million in the year to March 2016, but the bill is likely to be far higher because only 87 of 150 health trusts supplied figures.
Some refused to say how much they had spent, citing private finance initiative deals or that the information was ‘commercially sensitive’.
And costs have soared compared with five years ago, based on an analysis of the like-for-like data from the 62 trusts that pro- vided figures for both 2011/12 and 2015/16. The data, obtained by the Press Association news agency, showed a rise of more than 26 per cent over the period from £646,857 to £815,855.
The majority of trusts outsourced their pest- control to private contractors such as Rentokil, ISS Facility Services and Medirest and paid for regular inspections as well as ad hoc call-outs to pest sightings.
A total of 4,885 call-outs were made in the last year to March, while like-for-like figures from 57 trusts showed there were 3,880 call- outs in 2015/16, a rise of 3 per cent on 2011/12.
Spending at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS NHS Foundation 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 for the trust said: ‘We take all pest control matters very seriously and deal with them swiftly.’
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust recorded 337 incident in 2015-2016 at its three hospitals, while at the four hospitals run by Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust there were 302 pest sightings in 2015/16.
A spokesmen for the Leicester trust said: ‘Contracts are in place for all three acute hospitals to manage the issues effectively, which can often be a result of seasonal problems.’
A spokesman for the Pennine trust said that during 2015/16 it had reduced the number of pest incidents by 28.5 per cent on the previous year, when reports totalled 423.
The Department of Health 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.’
‘Must have an effective policy’