‘Overflowing bins and filthy toilets’

A businessman has criticised health trust chiefs after spotting overflowing bins and dirty toilets in a hospital A&E department.

Steve Rumbelow, from Chartham, suffered a stroke in July and was told to go to the William Harvey Hospital for treatment.

But the 57-year-old complained to hospital managers about the lack of cleanliness, and said that on a return visit to the hospital this week standards had not improved.

He said: “The toilet was filthy and there was detritus all over the floor.

“These are the busiest toilets in the hospital and should be cleaned on the hour, but there’s no sign of any cleaning happening at all.

“I was not surprised by it. If an organisation can’t even clean toilets and empty overflowing bins, how the hell can they run a hospital? When you walk past an overflowing bin with cigarette butts everywhere, that’s the first impression given out to patients.”

Mr Rumbelow is currently off work from his job selling forklift trucks for an international company, and says in the private sector contractors which do not provide a good enough service are challenged for breach of contract.

He says the same should happen in the private sector.

A spokesman for the hospitals trust said: “We work hard to maintain the highest standards of cleanliness and we are sorry to hear that the toilets in the A&E department fell short on this occasion.

“All our toilets are checked and cleaned five times per day by Serco staff and the bins are emptied at least three times per day.

“If we are made aware of any problems outside of these times we will of course also carry out any cleaning required.”

A patient has criticised standards of cleanliness and upkeep at the William Harvey Hospital