Zimpapers Logo

John Higgins, 82, told family he spotted a rat in his ward at Medway Maritime Hospital — AFP

The family of an elderly man who was dying of cancer has criticised the hospital he was staying at after a huge rat was found metres from his bedside.
Grandfather John Higgins, 82, repeatedly told his family and friends he could see a rat in the light fitting close to an air vent on his ward at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent.

His son, Robert Langstead, 50, put the sightings down to hallucinations due to the amount of medication his terminally ill dad was on.
But while on a visit to the grandfather-of-six on July 15, Langstead spotted the rat as it scurried along a window sill in a waiting room.

Whilst walking out of the hospital he spotted another rodent on some stairs and took a picture of it on his mobile phone.
Langstead, from Rochester, Kent, said: “Dad was very ill and kept saying he could see rats in the light, but we just put that down to the strong drugs he had been put on.

“We couldn’t believe it when we went into the waiting room and saw the rat on the window sill — my sister screamed.”
He added: “It’s disgusting a rat was inside the ward — dirty. The creatures could have crawled on him.

“They have six foot windows which open from the bottom about 18 inches off the ground.”
John Higgins, 82, told family he had spotted a rat in his ward at Medway Maritime Hospital
“If they opened the top windows, the rats probably wouldn’t be able to get in.”

He reported the sighting to nurses and security staff who stated there was a zero-tolerance approach to dealing with pests at the site.
He said he is outraged at how long it took staff to act.

He added: “They didn’t do anything about it that night. The nursing staff we told were just freaked out by the thought of a rat being on the ward.

“When we left we told the security guard at the main entrance and he said he would report it the next morning, so their policy to act immediately to pest control is not working at all.”

Just 12 hours after the sighting, Higgins, a retired window cleaner also of Rochester, who had been admitted to the hospital with a virus, died.

He had been on the pathways to heaven scheme, used to assist the terminally-ill by keeping them comfortable in their final days.
His family has since condemned the hospital, which is still in special measures after a report by England’s chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards rated progress there in the last year as ‘inadequate’.

A spokesman for Medway NHS Foundation Trust has denied that the rat was in a ward but said it could have been in a hospital corridor.
In a statement, they said: “Medway NHS Foundation Trust takes a zero-tolerance approach to pests.

“Any sighting is taken seriously and our pest control contractor is called onsite immediately to assess possible points of entry and compile a report of the areas affected, and the actions put in place for control and prevention.

“We would like to assure patients and visitors that all pest related issues are closely monitored and we have an effective internal system for reporting any sightings so that everything that should be done, is done.” — Daily Mail