COCKROACHES, silverfish insects and black mould were all found in the kitchen area of a major Scottish hospital.
The kitchen area of the Western General in Edinburgh was judged to be an “ideal habitat” for cockroaches.
Following the inspection, the hospital was marked “Improvement Required” by Food Standards Scotland.
Read more: £1m boost for 40 arts projects as Creative Scotland reveals funding
The check was carried out in April but has only now been revealed following a Freedom of Information request.
The cockroaches were discovered just two years after the same insects were discovered in the kitchen at the same hospital.
The full report from the inspection noted a total of 10 contraventions of Food Standards Scotland regulations.
The report stated: “The design, construction, sitting and size of the boxed-in space behind the kitchen dishwashing machine is causing the formation of condensation and undesirable mould.
Read more: £1m boost for 40 arts projects as Creative Scotland reveals funding
“The lack of ventilation and heat/moisture from hot pipes is creating an ideal habitat for cockroaches. Two dead German cockroaches were seen inside.”
It added: “Silverfish insects were seen at the radiator in the hall outside the catering offices.”
George Curley, director of facilities at NHS Lothian, said: “We take food hygiene and safety extremely seriously and have robust processes in place to maintain high standards across all of our premises.
“Following this unannounced inspection in April immediate actions were taken to address each of the issues it raised.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article