COCKROACHES, rats, mice, wasps and ants are among the pests caught infesting hospitals across Sussex.

Exterminators visited sites dozens of times in one year to tackle bugs, rodents, pigeons and dead birds.

Rats were discovered in the day surgery unit and car park at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath while wasps were discovered at the neighbouring Hurstwood Park neurosciences centre.

Some of the infestations happened inside hospital buildings themselves while others were in the grounds.

Hospitals contract pest controllers to deal with unwanted bugs and creatures and to carry out weekly site visits for checks and maintenance.

Information obtained by The Argus shows Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust had 72 visits from pest controllers between April last year and the end of March.

Most of these were for regular routine checks and maintenance and led to various problems being unearthed.

These included flies and ants on a hospital ward, fleas in a pharmacy, spiders in the tower block at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and in A&E and silverfish in a cupboard in the X-ray department.

Monitoring pest control at the trust has been contracted out to Sodexo, which also runs cleaning and catering facilities.

However the company’s contract finishes at the end of July and the trust will be taking back control of these services.

A trust spokesman said: “It is extremely important that our hospitals remain clean and safe so we have a process in place to ensure any issues involving pests are dealt with quickly and humanely.”

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust’s discoveries included flies mice, rats and pigeons at Southlands Hospital in Shoreham, biting insects at Worthing Hospital and ants, cockroaches and bees at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.

Insects and a bird’s nest were found at Eastbourne District General Hospital while pest controllers needed to remove wasp’s nests and biting insects from the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards.