HSE say pest control ’very important’

HSE says pest control is very important after damning report

Neill O’Neill

HSE WEST have stated that they take the problem of pest control very seriously, after a damning report surfaced last week that pest controllers were called to Mayo General Hospital (MGH) more than 23 times between 2003 and 2008.

Three dead rats in the attic above the x-ray department and rat activity in the restaurant were just two of the cases at the Castlebar hospital in recent years, with dead mice also found in a storage room in the cardiac investigations unit in January 2005.

According to the report, which was published after information was received by a national newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, Mayo General Hospital has paid out more than €23,649 in an attempt to control infestations.

In response, HSE West released a statement saying that the report also makes it clear that the HSE takes the problem of pest control seriously and devotes a great deal of time and money to the problem.

“Constant vigilance is required on the part of staff, visitors and patients,” the statement reads, “and when the sheer physical mass, ie buildings and grounds, of our hospitals is taken into account, as well as the many hundreds of thousands of people using them each year, then the nature of this ongoing battle is more readily apparent.”

The statement finishes by saying that experts in pest control also speculate that climate change, such as global warming, provides a more favourable environment for pests.

In July 2003 pest controllers were called to MGH to check reports of rats at the rear of the restaurant, and in the plant room areas, while two months later they were called to check up on reports of a mouse in room eight in block D of the female ward. In January 2005 a dead mouse was found in the cardiac investigations unit and in September 2005 two dead rats were removed from the lawn. In November 2005 mice were seen at the reception, coffee shop and A&E area, and in February 2006 controllers were called to check on mice activity in the x-ray department. In September of that year two dead mice were removed – one from the internal filing station and another from the darkroom – while three dead rats were taken from an attic space in August 2007. In November 2007 the presence of rodents was reported by staff outside the main store area and in the medical records department, while in February and March of last year, rat activity was reported in the waste management area and in the boiler room.

Many of the other hospitals in the country found themselves in a similar situation last week – with Beaumont Hospital in Dublin having more than 90 call-outs in the last seven years. In University College Hospital Galway, a mouse was caught in the A&E department last August, while among the incidents in Merlin Park Hospital in Galway, a rat was seen in the store room of Unit 6 in January 2008.