It has been revealed that hospitals across Scotland forked out £4.3 million controlling pests in the last five years.
The Scottish Government has been urged to make vital improvements to the NHS estate after it emerged almost half of the total figure had been spent on pest control in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde between 2019 and 2024.
It is the largest health board in Scotland and had the highest pest control spend across the country with a total of £2.1m over five years.
That included 61 callouts for ants and a further 33 for rodents across city hospitals in the first four months of last year alone, according to data obtained by Scottish Labour through freedom of information requests.
In NHS Ayrshire and Arran, the £170,366 spend covered reports of ants in the maternity department, maggots in the dining room and a mouse running around the x-ray waiting room.
In NHS Highland, the callouts included a mouse nest in a nurse’s bedroom, as well as a rat infestation at a doctor’s house, bed bugs in patient accommodation and mice droppings “over everything” in a Fort William dental unit.
There had also been reported issues with maggots, cockroaches and squirrels in NHS Lothian, while mice, rats and a dead bird were among the discoveries in NHS Forth Valley.
Dame Jackie Baillie, health spokeswoman for Scottish Labour, warned Scottish Government ministers that the figures were part of an ongoing battle for health boards to keep their hospitals and clinics safe for public use.
Spending on pest control per health board across 2019 to 2024 included:
- NHS Borders spent £90,386, with 18 callouts for black ants in 2024 and 12 for wasps in 2023-24.
- In Dumfries and Galloway, £105,964 was spent across the five years, and included a dead rabbit on the patio of a mental health building.
- NHS Fife spent £286,188, reporting biting insects, rodents, wasps and birds.
- £729,221 was spent in NHS Lanarkshire. The report said: “Patient was on ward with an open flesh wound. Now patient away flies disappeared. No treatment required.”
- NHS Orkney spent £13,286 on mice, birds and rats, while NHS Western Isles spent £9,335 on wasps and blue bottles in 2023-24.
- £18,000 was spent on hospital buildings in Shetland but no further information was supplied.
- Across NHS Tayside, £73,432 was spent, including on wasps reported in the blood sciences lab, ants in the sexual health clinic and mice in a ward.
Ms Baillie said: “These figures tell a story of a constant battle to keep our crumbling hospitals and clinics safe from pests.
“The UK Labour government delivered a record budget settlement for NHS capital projects – the SNP must make sure every penny goes to improving our NHS estate.”
The Scottish Labour deputy leader also said frontline NHS services should be prioritised to ensure “patients and staff alike know that their environment is sanitary, clean and safe”.
The Scottish Government, meanwhile, said a record £21 billion has been pledged in the 2025-26 budget for the country’s health and social care sector, with “transformational” investment at the heart of plans.
A spokesman said: “Our 2025-26 draft budget sets out a record £21 billion for health and social care, including more than £1 billion capital investment and £140 million additional funding across NHS infrastructure to allow our health capital programme to restart.
“We want to deliver this transformational investment and drive further improvements for patients, but to do that, Parliament must approve our Budget Bill to unlock investment to drive the progress – and the healthier population – that we all want to see.”