Rats, flies and seagulls among pests found in Wrexham Maelor Hospital

Rats, flies and seagulls are among the pests which have been discovered in Wrexham Maelor Hospital over the last few years.

Data obtained by Wrexham.com following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has highlighted the number of pest control call outs to hospitals run by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

According to the figures, pest control teams were called to the Maelor 314 times between January 2021 and the end of May this year.

The most frequent causes were in relation to rats, ants, wasps, seagulls, flies and pigeons.

However, the overall information shows there has been a gradual reduction in call outs over the last few years from 149 in 2021 to 45 last year.

The highest amount of call outs out of the three main hospital sites in North Wales for the overall time period were to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, where pest control teams visit on 359 occasions.

In addition to the list of pests detected at the Maelor, fleas and mice were also found at Glan Clwyd.

Ysbyty Gwynedd accounted for the fewest with just 127 call outs in the same timeframe.

Data has also been included for smaller local health facilities, with 30 calls to Chirk Community Hospital regarding rats and ants.

There were also nine cases of wasps and ants at the Coed Celyn mental health unit on Grove Road in Wrexham.

Meanwhile, there was just one call out to Penley Community Hospital in relation to wasps.

A total of eight contracted pest control visits are carried out at hospitals and other facilities run by the health board every year. The figures detailed above relate to call outs in addition to that amount.

The sharing of this data comes in the same week that a report has been published shows how old hospital buildings in Wales possibly contributed to the spread of Covid-19.

More than 18,000 cases of suspected hospital-acquired Covid infections were investigated in the report sharing ‘learnings’ from the pandemic, which also highlighted staffing issues.

In relation to hospital buildings, it states: “Ageing estates across health boards and trusts in Wales present a number of challenges in relation to both infection prevention and control (IP&C) and patient experience.

“Since many of the hospitals and other healthcare settings across Wales were designed and built, IP&C and patient experience best practice have developed considerably.

“Many healthcare settings have limited access to single rooms which means there is less opportunity to isolate patients.

“Bed-spacing and ventilation were also a challenge in some areas which limited the ability to manage the risk of infection.”