Maggots find forces Scots children's hospital to close operating theatres

Published on Thursday 2 July 2009 21:51

ALL three operating theatres at one of Scotland's leading children's hospitals were closed yesterday because of an infestation of maggots.

The theatres at the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital were shut and all surgery cancelled after evidence of the infestation was discovered in two of the three operating suites.

The closure was ordered only a week after an outbreak of the Clostridium difficile bug in which one patient died at the nearby Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on the giant Foresterhill hospitals site.

A NHS Grampian spokesman said: "Operating theatres at the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital are temporarily closed, while investigations are carried out to find the source of an infestation of maggots.

"There are three theatres at the hospital. Two are affected and the third was closed as a precaution.

"Since closure, four patients have had their procedures carried out at accident and emergency, while seven others have been postponed.

"Families and patients are being kept informed and NHS Grampian apologises for any inconvenience this temporary measure may cause."

He stressed that there was no risk to patients and that emergency procedures had not been affected.

The NHS spokesman said: "The maggots were found by a member of staff when the theatres were not being used and action was taken immediately. A specialist company has been brought in to pinpoint the source so that full cleaning can be carried out before the theatres reopen.

"Non-emergency procedures for tomorrow have been postponed – eight in all. No procedures are scheduled for the weekend."

Lewis Macdonald, the Labour MSP for Aberdeen Central, said: "Many people will be shocked and disgusted that there is an infestation of maggots in Scotland's newest children's hospital."

The 27 million hospital opened its doors to its first patients in January 2004.

The hospital provides treatment for children from birth to 16 years across the North-east and the Northern Isles, as well as some patients from the Highlands and Tayside.

The building is the third children's hospital to be built in the city since the first unit was opened in Castle Terrace in 1877.

The hospital caters each year for more than 6,000 in-patients, including an estimated 5,100 emergency admissions, 1,500 day patients, 34,000 out-patients and more than 20,000 accident-and-emergency cases.

Margaret Watt, of the Scotland Patients' Association, said: "This should not be happening in a hospital. People are losing their lives to C diff and MRSA. What will we have next? The NHS has to get its act together.

"Staff are not doing their jobs properly, and if they're not up to the task, then they should make way for someone who is up to it. Someone must pay for this."

Infection expert Professor Hugh Pennington, from Aberdeen University, said: "This shows perhaps that the level of cleaning is not up to scratch in hospitals.

"It's all part of a package in terms of preventing the spread of hospital-based infections.

"For example, if a kitchen is infested with cockroaches, it leads you to wonder how clean the chopping boards might be."