By Adrian Rutherford
PEST control experts were called out to almost 130 suspected sightings of pests at hospitals in the Western Trust area in a single year, the UH can reveal.
Many of the cases involved suspected infestations of mice, rats and wasps. In one case bedbugs were discovered in Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital.
It comes days after an investigation revealed that pest control experts had been called out 800 times in a 12-month period by health trusts across Northern Ireland.
However, a spokesman for the Western Trust said it treated issues surrounding pest control "very seriously" and confirmed none of the call-outs in its area were to ward or clinical areas.
According to statistics released to this newspaper under Freedom of Information legislation, pest experts were brought in 128 times to deal with suspected cases in the area's three hospitals between April 2007 and March 2008, in addition to 37 'routine visits' by contractors.
The trust was unable to provide a full breakdown of cases but confirmed that the most common pests dealt with were silverfish, mice, rats and wasps' nests.
Contractors also had to treat bedbugs at staff accommodation at Altnagelvin Hospital as well as in areas of the Erne Hospital and Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital.
The trust said that pest activity remained "quite similar" from year to year.
A spokesperson for the Western Trust said it was "proactive" in dealing with pest control and said the figures should be considered in the context of public buildings, the large geographical area and the number of sites and facilities involved.
"The trust has a contract with pest control specialists which provides for routine visits each year to its facilities, many of which are large buildings with a significant throughput of people 365 days a year," he said.
"During the financial year 2007/2008, the trust had 37 routine visits by its pest control contractors and 128 call-outs to respond to sightings or suspected sightings of pests in its hospitals.
"There were no call-outs to ward or clinical areas in the Altnagelvin, Erne, or Tyrone County hospitals.
"A routine visit or call-out does not mean that a pest has been found and visits are often to deal with one-off sightings of pests.
"The pest control specialists carry out treatments following each visit as appropriate. They also provide specialist advice to the trust following the contract visits."
Patricia McKeown from the health workers' union Unison said she was appalled by the statistics and said hospital cleanliness measures had taken a "back seat" in recent years.
"I am obviously very concerned," she said. "I've been banging on about health service cleanliness for about 25 years and I'm not going to stop until we get it right.
"You cannot take more than 50 per cent of the cleaning staff out of our health service, as has happened in Northern Ireland, and expect the same standards to prevail."
