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Rats on hospital grounds

Posted By Honestfeedback

"Rats on hospital grounds"

About: University Hospital Wishaw / Trauma and Orthopaedics (14- 16)

(as a relative),

I was recently visiting a relative in ward 15 and upon entering the back entrance to the hospital I was met with a rat on the path. 

More concerningly, as we sat at visiting, out the window looking onto the nursery, we could see what we thought at first glance were rabbits but in fact these were 3 rats near to the fence at the nursery. 
More about:
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Responses

Response from Sam Hannah, General Manager, Soft Services, NHS Lanarkshire 6 days ago
Sam Hannah
General Manager, Soft Services,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 15/10/2025 at 15:33
Published on Care Opinion at 15:33

Hi Honestfeedback

Firstly thank you for taking the time to get in touch. The rat issue you mention below has been recognised by the team on site, and together with our Pest Control contractor we have been working on various solutions to deal with the issue.

After speaking to the industry experts it was noted there has been an increase in vermin activity not only at the hospital but across the area, the pest control laboratory believe the rat population is becoming resistant to the type of poison used in the bait boxes.

We are tackling this issue in a few different ways:

As of Monday the 6th October the contractor will be using a different product not used in the area so no resistance. A review of all bait box locations across site. The change of external bin types across site that incorporates bait boxes An increase in the emptying of bins A reduction as far as practicable of food waste at the rear of the restaurant. And, a modification to the large 1100ltr bins to stop rat ingress, to remove any food source.

Please be assured we take this issue seriously and will continue to work with our Pest Control contractors to manage the issue.

Kind regards

Sam

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