By stewartb

So £4.3 million spent over 5 years in Scotland’s hospitals – or an average of £860,000 per annum. Is that a big number of not? I can’t tell from the Daily Record article! I do note the article gives examples of ‘pests’ present in places like a ‘nurse’s bedroom’, a ‘doctor’s house’ and a ‘dental unit’ as well as hospitals, so the cost must be spread over a very numerous and diverse range of NHS Scotland premises!

How much of that sum has been spent on preventative inspection and control measures – sensible and a necessity – as distinct to pest removal? I can’t tell from the Daily Record article! Indeed, is it exceptional for health service premises in the UK – indeed anywhere – to have ANY pests in the first place? I can’t tell from the Daily Record article! A quick Google search reveals lots of specialist contractors across the UK with a business in pest control for health service premises.

The British Labour Party’s Dame Jackie Baillie is behind this ‘exposee’. She is quoted by the Daily Record: “Scottish Labour will prioritise our frontline NHS services so that patients and staff alike know that their environment is sanitary, clean and safe.”

And someone very senior in NHS Scotland/the Scottish Government must surely be held accountable for this incident given space in the Daily Record’s news report: ‘Dumfries and Galloway reported a dead rabbit on the patio of the mental health outpatients’ building.’ On an NHS patio – an outrage!

From the House of Commons Library (July 25, 2023) ‘How to spot spin and inappropriate use of statistics. Research Briefing: ‘Context is vital in interpreting any statistic. It is highly unlikely that you can conclude anything meaningful from a single statistic without any background or context. (my emphasis)

‘Without context, an author can put their ‘spin’ on a statistic, for example, by claiming it is particularly big or small, high or low, without answering the question, compared to what?’

From the BBC News website (January 5, 2020) ‘Welsh hospitals: Pest control called for rats and ants’ – ‘Droppings in an operating theatre, flies in a labour ward and a false widow spider are among the reasons pest control services were called to Welsh hospitals over the past five years.’

‘In north Wales, services were called out 453 times between 2014 and March 2019, with Wrexham Maelor hospital receiving the overwhelming majority, for issues including wasps, ants, rats, maggots, slugs, silverfish, seagulls and pigeons.’

Also from the same BBC article on NHS Wales and its pest control: ‘Paul Blackhurst from Rentokil, which is contracted by many Welsh health boards, said pests will typically be drawn to the hospital’s warm and dry environment where there is food and shelter.

“It is likely that similar weather conditions experienced this summer could have caused increased rodent sightings, as well as encouraging the animals to search for water close to human habitation when their usual sources had dried up.”

He added: “.. many hospitals (in Wales) are based in older buildings, so facilities managers must ensure that the hospital building structures are well maintained in order to keep pests out,” he said.’

Surely this cannot be true – in NHS trusts within Labour-governed Wales with old building and with pest problems too? Has Welsh Labour NOT been prioritising frontline NHS services so that ‘patients and staff alike know that their environment is sanitary, clean and safe’?

From the Express (Feb 13, 2023): ‘Drakeford warned his plan for rats will shut hospitals and lead to food shortages in Wales – The Welsh Government plans to bring in a ban on glue boards used by pest control professionals to catch rats and mice in hospitals, restaurants, nursing homes, schools and other public venues.’

A Labour-run NHS in Wales having to deal with rats? I’m shocked! To quote Dame Jackie: for NHS Wales under a Labour government in Cardiff since the beginning of devolution “These figures tell a story of a constant battle to keep our crumbling hospitals and clinics safe from pests.’

From the Independent (April 12, 2024) ‘Rats and cockroaches among pests plaguing NHS hospitals – see if yours is affected: Cash-strapped trusts are forced to shell out millions of pounds eradicating pests across crumbling NHS estate.’

‘Rats, mice, cockroaches and bed bugs were among the thousands of pests found at NHS hospitals across England, with rodents discovered on maternity wards, wasps nests in imaging areas and ants “coming through the ceiling”.

‘In total there were 18,000 reports of pests at NHS hospitals over the past three years, according to data obtained under freedom of information laws.’

‘Rats, mice, cockroaches and bed bugs were among the thousands of pests found at NHS hospitals across England, with rodents discovered on maternity wards, wasps nests in imaging areas and ants “coming through the ceiling”.

‘… with the total cost of dealinng (sic) with pests across the NHS estate at an eyewatering £3m, according to the data, obtained by the Liberal Democrats.’

The Liberal Democrat’s data from its FoI responses on pest control by NHS England’s trusts can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_S4SoU3d2hUSGdDR6PftlVnnXpGRjFSCL79Gkj3lu7s/edit?gid=0#gid=0 It reveals that the data reported in the Independent were obtained from only a partial set of trusts, so the scale of the issue, including costs, is most likely to be much bigger.

From the Health Foundation (December 20, 2024) on NHS England: ‘The NHS maintenance backlog: rising costs and falling investment’: ‘The maintenance backlog more than doubled in real terms between 2015/16 (£6.4bn) and 2023/24 (£13.8bn), with the fastest growth in the highest risk category (urgent repairs to prevent catastrophic failure or disruption to clinical services).

‘Since 2021/22, the backlog has grown by £2.1bn. Over the same period, investment to reduce the backlog fell by £707m in real terms, contributing to this growth.’

For the avoidance of doubt, the scale of the maintenance backlog associated with NHS England’s estate is in BILLIONS of pounds. If the 2023/24 estimate of £13.8bn did not exist i.e. previous Westminster governments had spent the sum necessary to maintain the NHS England estate, the Scottish government’s budget could have been c. £1.38bn higher.

Looking forward, the Health Foundation comments: ‘The government’s recent Autumn Budget announced a boost to the Department of Health and Social Care’s capital budget, a real-terms increase of £3.1bn by 2025/26, with £1bn of this earmarked for critical maintenance, repairs and upgrades. This is a welcome increase, but with a backlog that exceeds the total cost of running the NHS for the last financial year, significant and sustained capital investment will be needed to return the NHS estate to full working order.‘