A patient at Cornwall's main hospital said she felt "extremely unsafe" after seeing what she believes were more than a dozen rats running around outside.
Emma Caddy spotted the rodents while smoking outside the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, Truro, on Friday night (September 4) at around 8:30pm. She estimated there were "at least 12 maybe up to 20" rats climbing up the railings and heading into the car park.
Having recently undergone surgery at Treliske and now recovering, Emma said it was "disturbing" to see so many rodents because they "attract germs."
"It made me feel extremely unsafe given I have just had surgery and I'm recovering in hospital with this, you do not expect to see rodents outside a hospital," she told CornwallLive.
"I've still got an open wound that I'm healing from, so the last thing you want to see when you've got an open wound is something that attracts germs. So, it was quite disturbing [to see]."
"There were at least 12, maybe up to 20 [rats] climbing up the railings and going down into the back of the car park as well. There were quite a few."
Emma said she went back outside later that evening and noticed the rats were gone, but it appeared they were nesting in the bins. She reported the issue to staff and was reportedly told they were aware of it, but said nothing seemed to be done.
"I noticed there was a lady at the reception and told her and she said, 'yes we are aware, they do breed like crazy' and I was just dumbstruck and I went, 'oh ok, well that's that then'," Emma said. "So, I just went back to my bed and I couldn't believe it."
A spokesperson for Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We are aware of reports of rats being seen on hospital grounds and appreciate the concern this has caused. We have pest control contracts and measures in place across our three hospitals, and we treat all reports seriously and promptly if pest issues are observed by colleagues, visitors, or patients.
"As soon as this report was received over the weekend our teams responded with support from our pest control contractors and put additional pest control measures in place to rapidly resolve the issue.
"Rodent activity is generally known to increase during periods of prolonged hot weather, when rodents may be more active and breeding conditions can be more favourable. However, any reports of pest activity are investigated promptly and appropriate action is taken.
"The sightings reported were in external areas of the site and we have comprehensive infection prevention, cleaning, and pest management arrangements in place throughout our hospitals. We would ask everyone using our sites to always dispose of food waste carefully and to not feed birds or other wild animals, to avoid attracting rodents.
"We will continue to monitor the situation closely and take all necessary steps to eradicate pest activity in our hospital grounds."
Royal Cornwall Hospital Patient Disturbed and Unsafe After Seeing Rats