James Campbell, head of pest consultancy for Kiwa Independent Pest Consultancy (KIPC), explores why pest control failures can threaten patient safety and healthcare reputations and how health estate managers can get ahead of the challenge.
Maintaining a clean environment in hospitals and other healthcare settings is vital to remain sterile and for high standards of patient care are to be maintained.
Unchecked pest infestations can cause significant damage — to patients, staff, and the organisation. Rodents can carry and transmit a number of diseases to humans, and their presence can introduce and propagate the spread of pathogens, be it directly, through urine or faeces, or through the areas they inhabit.
These pathogens include salmonella, hantavirus, leptospirosis, and rat-bite fever, all of which can be highly debilitating or even fatal for patients who may already be unwell or immunocompromised. Most healthcare sites have food preparation areas, which are prime targets for rodent contamination. These pests produce thousands of urine microdroplets and countless droppings daily. This has the potential to severely contaminate these areas. They are also known to leave behind urine and faeces in food products, and gnaw through packaging materials to access food within, meaning this food is spoiled and must be disposed of and replaced.
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