Hospital kitchens - a pretty dirty affair

With reports on a regular basis telling us that controlling superbugs such as MRSA in many hospitals is akin to fighting a losing battle, the last thing the public want to hear is that hospital kitchens are filthy.

But this sadly appears to be the case.

A new study has revealed that almost half of all hospital kitchens in England fall well below the basic standards of cleanliness.

The picture gets even uglier with evidence found of medical waste found on food handling equipment, staff with poor standards of hygiene and infestations of cockroaches and mice.

Inspections reports carried out at 377 hospitals in England have revealed that nearly one-fifth of hospitals failed to store food at the correct temperature and 18 contained food that was out of date.

Six hospitals failed inspections in five or more categories, and eight had poor enough performance to require re-inspection every six months.

The revelations have surfaced as a result of a 'freedom of information request' submitted to a quarter of all English local authorities requesting health inspection reports into food preparation areas in hospitals.

At eleven of the hospitals cockroaches, mouse droppings and vermin were found and 173 displayed poor cleanliness.

It was also found that 68% fell below the legal requirements for food storage conditions, and 57 employed staff with poor personal hygiene.

Detailed examples are given of milk stored in the drug freezer of a radiology department and inspectors visiting a hospital in Croydon finding a syringe and needle on a supper tray.

Critics say sick people are already vulnerable to infection and do not need the added risk of food-borne bacteria spread by substandard hygiene and food preparation.

The shadow health secretary Norman Lamb has called for a public rating system for hospital kitchens and says it is unacceptable that such practices are taking place in an environment where hygiene and safety should be paramount.

The Food Standards Agency says it will sanction local authorities that fail to address significant cleanliness problems in the hospital kitchens they oversee.