Hospital staff kitchen shut down due to cockroach infestation
A kitchen at a Stockport hospital run by contract caterers Host Management has been temporarily shut down after cockroaches were discovered.
The canteen at Stepping Hill Hospital serves meals for staff and visitors but is separate to the kitchen for patients, which is unaffected.
It was investigated by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council's environmental health team following a complaint and the pests were found to be present in the restaurant kitchen.
The kitchen is now undergoing "deep cleaning". Hot food is no longer being served, but sandwiches as well as hot and cold drinks are still available.
A spokesperson for the Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said: "We take food hygiene very seriously and are working with environmental health officers and the retail contractor who runs our restaurant to ensure we can serve hot meals to staff and visitors as soon as possible."
Host Management, part of the CH&Co group, said: "In discussions with our client, we took the decision to voluntarily close the staff and visitor restaurant at Stepping Hill Hospital as soon as we became aware that there was a potential pest issue.
"Additional deep cleaning and maintenance work has been carried out and we can confirm that the restaurant will reopen tomorrow morning. We have worked closely with the hospital trust and environmental health to ensure the situation has been dealt with swiftly and thoroughly, and with minimum disruption."
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