Visitor labels hospital toilets 'just appalling'
A man has claimed that the state of the reception area toilets at West Suffolk Hospital are comparable to a poorly maintained pub toilet.
Photographs of overflowing waste baskets, urine stained floors and the accumulation of 'dirty scum' were taken by Roger Rothery on July 30 and 31.
Mr Rothery, of Stowupland, says nothing has been done to improve the cleanliness of the toilets since he raised the problem with health chiefs two months ago, following an appearance on local radio.
The family are regular visitors to the Bury St Edmunds hospital, as their 10-year-son Ryan suffers from a rare kidney disease.
They also have to make numerous weekly trips to Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, as that is the nearest place where their son can receive dialysis.
"Compared to Great Ormond Street, West Suffolk is absolutely appalling," said Mr Rothery.
"On both days, the toilets were in a disgusting state. I wouldn't want my child to use them as they are an obvious infection risk – it has been ongoing for sometime.
"The hospital said they were going to put things right, but to my eyes nothing has changed. I actually think it's become even worse.
"To have toilets like that in a hospital is just appalling. I would compare them to the worst pub toilet I have ever seen or the corner of a park.
"Speaking to them is obviously a waste of time, they haven't done anything. They tried to say urine stains were actually cleaning fluid, but it is not cleaning fluid. Even so, you would expect them to do a good cleaning job and wipe it away."
The complaint comes just a week after the hospital was stripped of its three-star status by a Government watchdog.
The Healthcare Commission gave the hospital one star and said its massive
10 million debt was the biggest problem, alongside poor standards of cleanliness.
Mr Rothery believes that better supervision is needed to ensure an acceptable standard of cleanliness is achieved.
"I wonder what NHS manager is responsible for this mess and what can be done to force them to provide facilities that are clean, modern and, most importantly, maintained to a standard that you would expect in a hospital."
Steve Moore, West Suffolk Hospital's director of facilities, said: "The trust makes every endeavour to keep the toilets clean at all times – they are cleaned twice daily.
"What is out of our control is that some members of the public do not treat our facilities with respect.
"For some reason, they feel the need to deposit toilet paper on the floors, do not flush the toilets and daub graffiti on the walls.
"The toilets are fairly old and no amount of cleaning will make them look brand new. Hopefully, once the new toilets are fitted, people will treat them with respect."
He added that cleanliness and infection control was a top priority and he urged anyone who is unhappy with cleanliness anywhere in the hospital to report it to a member of staff so the situation could be rectified straight away.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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