Hospital staff let stray cat ‘roam around A&E and sit on beds’
HOSPITAL staff secretly kept a stray cat to catch rodents and even allowed it to wander among patients in the accident and emergency unit, it has been claimed.
They are said to have made the animal – who they named Monty – feel at home by providing a basket, food and scratch pads.
Managers only discovered it was living on site when it was found asleep during a routine check of linen cupboards. They were said to have ‘gone nuts’.
Bosses at Epsom Hospital in Surrey confirmed an investigation has taken place. They said a ‘deep clean’ had been carried out in areas where Monty had been. The investigation led to a porter being sacked. CCTV showed him sitting on a hospital bed stroking the cat.
Professor Hugh Pennington, an infection control expert at Aberdeen University, said staff’s behaviour in homing the cat was ‘beyond belief’, adding that it could have spread potentially fatal bugs such as norovirus.
‘Hospitals are supposed to be spotlessly clean to limit the spread of infection,’ he said.
Professor Pennington said norovirus, which the cat could carry on its paws, was a major worry. ‘Staff can get infected, wards have to be closed – that can be a major crisis.’
While at the hospital, Monty, a Burmese, was photographed stalking a rat in a storage area, The Sun reported. The cat was also pictured on a table and its paw prints were said to have been found on fresh bed sheets.
Union officials reportedly wrote to staff at the hospital, saying: ‘The trust board have gone nuts that a cat should be in the hospital. They are looking for the culprit.’
A spokesman for Epsom and St Helier NHS trust said: ‘Our first priority has to be the wellbeing of our patients, and that includes protecting people from the risk of infection.’