Thousands of pests, including rats, cockroaches and bedbugs, have been found in NHS hospitals in England as the health service reels under record high repair bills.
Hospital bosses are having to spend millions of pounds on pest control after discovering lice, flies and rodents in children’s wards, breast clinics, maternity wards, emergency departments and kitchens, in the most graphic illustration yet of the bleak and dangerous state of the NHS estate.
NHS bosses have repeatedly warned ministers of the urgent need to put money into repairing dilapidated buildings to protect the safety and dignity of patients and staff. The maintenance backlog in England now stands at £11.6 billion.
Figures obtained under freedom of information laws and reviewed by the Guardian suggest the NHS is struggling to cope with an army of vermin infesting dilapidated hospitals.
NHS data shows that there have been more than 18,000 plague incidents in the last three years. Last year there were 6,666, which corresponds to 18 per day. The figures also show that NHS bosses are having to spend millions of pounds on pest control and tackling pests, with £3.7 million spent in the last three years.
The data requests to 142 NHS hospital trusts in England, made by the Liberal Democrats, yielded just 59 responses – suggesting the costs and actual number of incidents were much higher.
Of the trusts that responded, Imperial College Healthcare’s NHS trust in London has spent the most on pest control in the last three years: £383,597, with 2,157 incidents.
East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust has spent £119,199 to tackle dozens of incidents, including mice in a kitchen, maggots in a mortuary, rat droppings in a body bag and silverfish in doctors’ mess.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS trust in Essex spent £273,330 on pest control. 77 incidents were reported, including ants in a maternity ward, a fly infestation in a ‘clean utility room’, rat droppings in corridors and rodents in the ceiling.
Rachel Power, the chief executive of the Patients Association, said the revelations were “deeply concerning” and “unacceptable”, adding: “No one should have to put up with being exposed to insects, rodents or other pests if they are already dealing with with illness or injury.”
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, the hospital membership organisation, said far too many NHS buildings were “in a very poor state”.
The £11.6 billion bill was also rising at an “alarming rate”, she added, saying: “It is worrying that trusts are also having to spend millions on pest control.”
Hospitals urgently needed public investment to address the “significant risks” to the safety of patients and staff, Cordery said.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the revelations were shocking and a sign that hospitals could no longer cope with sick patients and hardworking staff.
“In times of emergency, people need to be protected from insects and rodents. Instead, the wards are falling apart at the seams, with filthy vermin running freely,” he said. “This is a national scandal.”
Davey urged ministers to immediately provide emergency funding to resolve the crisis. “This Conservative government has left the NHS in disrepair with sky-high repair bills. This madness must end.
“It is time for the NHS to come first, starting with making hospitals safe and clean again. Conservative ministers can no longer hide from the state of the NHS.”
Imperial College Healthcare said it is committed to providing clean and safe spaces for its patients, visitors and staff and has “strong pest control measures in place” in addition to “rigorous infection prevention and control processes”.
East and North Hertfordshire Trust said it wanted to provide a clean and safe environment and had allocated funding to improve pest control, allowing it to ‘fix problems quickly’ and prevent as many as possible.
Michael Meredith, the director of strategy and estates at the Princess Alexandra Trust, said he took pest control seriously and was proud of “the quick and decisive action” the trust had taken to eradicate any problems.
The Department of Health and Social Care said NHS hospital trusts are legally responsible for the maintenance of their estates, including pest control, adding that it had invested significant sums to upgrade and modernize NHS buildings, including £4.2 billion this year.
“We have also invested a further £1.7 billion in more than 70 hospital upgrades across England,” a spokesperson added.