Croydon University Hospital's 100 pest control visits in a year
PEST controllers are having to visit Croydon University Hospital more than 100 times a year, amid fears the building is plagued with mice and cockroaches.
This week, a patient contacted the Advertiser to say she had spotted a mouse scuttling across the hospital's medical assessment unit – just a month after Purabi Lakhani complained she had seen "hundreds" of cockroaches on hospital grounds.
The hospital has confirmed to the Advertiser that it has a contract for pest controllers to visit its London Road site twice a week.
It has also encouraged patients to report any sightings of creepy-crawlies to hospital staff.
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Mike Ralph, director of estates and facilities at CUH, told the Advertiser: "We understand how unpleasant the sight of pests can be for visitors, patients and staff and do all we can to eradicate them quickly and safely.
"Unfortunately they are a fact of life anywhere humans exist and mice are very common where 21st century urban life meets old buildings.
"As this is a known hazard, the trust has a long-standing contract with a pest control company to come to the hospital twice a week, every week. We also have 'monitoring boxes' and other devices to check for pest activity between these visits.
"This proactive approach identifies and records all pest activity. On this occasion mouse activity was reported to the company and pest control measures taken promptly.
"We are grateful when people bring any such sightings to our attention as it means staff can report it and action can be taken."
The patient that spotted the mouse, who asked not to be named, said: "I saw a mouse running across the floor and I was terrified. I can't stand mice.
"It's not the kind of thing I expect to see in a hospital."
Ms Lakhani, from West Croydon, took a photograph of a cockroach scuttling around the hospital last month, while she was visiting her brother-in-law.
She also claims to have seen "hundreds" of the insects roaming around an exit adjacent to Woodcroft Road.
She told the Advertiser: "It is truly disgusting and to be honest, I am not at all surprised that they have to get pest controllers in there twice a week.
"Not only is it dirty, it is worrying for patients.
"I recently went on holiday to Thailand and Hong Kong and during my time there saw a total of two cockroaches – it is a horrible thought when you have hundreds of them just down the road in your local hospital."
The hospital refused to disclose details of the pest control contract, on confidentiality grounds.
Comments
by bagpus123
Tuesday, July 03 2012, 11:14AM
“there have been mice there for years, the new kitchen used to have them some time ago”