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Hi, I am not receiving treatment myself...

Story from nhs.uk

"Hi, I am not receiving treatment myself..."

About: South Tyneside District Hospital

What could be improved

Hi,

I am not receiving treatment myself although this is my local hospital. I have been visiting a close relative for the last week and am appalled at the unclean state of the hospital environment. The grounds are disgraceful. Dog filth is on every walkway between McAnaney Avenue and the Main Entrance and there is litter, including empty drinks cans everywhere. Directly outside the Main Entrance there are discarded cigarette boxes and cigarette ends making a complete mockery of the no smoking policy. The smell of smoke inside the doorway is disgusting. Why have a policy that you clearly have no intention of enforcing ? Outside environment is more difficult to keep clean than inside - however failure to do so will result in filth being brought into the hospital premises on the footwear of staff and visitors.

Finally, at the bottom of the staircase leading to Wards 1 and 2 there is a very large cobweb, clearly an indication that internal cleanliness is not as it should be. There is little point in visitors using alcohol gels on arrival on the wards if the dirt is already there.

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Responses

Response from South Tyneside District Hospital 13 years ago
South Tyneside District Hospital

Submitted on 13/08/2010 at 15:19
Published on nhs.uk on 14/08/2010 at 04:00

Thank you for sharing your views on the cleanliness of the grounds of the hospital with us.

I am sorry you found the grounds of the hospital to be less than satisfactory from a cleanliness perspective and as such I will pass your comments on to the Executive Director of Estates and Facilities to action accordingly.

This problem with litter is really frustrating for everyone who uses the site. We have previously won the Britain in Bloom award for our beautiful hospital gardens and the cleanest hospital award for our hospital. However, some people do abuse the grounds and gardens and can continuously litter the site. We have a full team of grounds staff who are diligently trying to keep on top of this problem

With regard to our smoking policy, I fully agree with you that the smell of smoke is unpleasant and undesirable. We do not like the smell of smoke near or around the main entrance nor the litter caused by it and staff are continually asking smokers to extinguish their cigarettes or leave the hospital site. However, whilst we can ask people not to smoke it is difficult to enforce this and we continuously trying to win this difficult battle, sometimes in the face of unpleasant, and aggressive behaviour from the members of the public who are smoking.

Thank you again for taking the time to pass your comments on and I hope your relative makes a speedy recovery. Please be assured we will continue our efforts.

Lorraine B Lambert

Chief Executive

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