Healthcare

Trade union reports presence of rats in patient's room in Puerta del Mar Hospital in Cadiz

UGT is demanding comprehensive solutions after having warned in August about the presence of rodents on several floors and in various departments of the hospital

Puerta del Mar University Hospital, Cadiz. (La Voz)

La Voz de Cádiz

Cádiz

22/09/2026 Actualizado a las 19:18h.

The trade union UGT has reported an alarming incident of poor hygiene at the Puerta del Mar University Hospital in Cadiz following confirmation that “a ... large rat appeared in a patient’s room” on the third floor of the hospital, even going so far as to “climb onto the patient’s bed”. This incident comes just “one month after” the trade union had alerted the hospital’s management in writing to the presence of rodents.

The trade union, in a press release, points out that as early as August it had brought the situation to the attention of the hospital’s management and submitted a risk report to the occupational health and safety service after detecting “the presence of large rodents in various parts of the hospital, particularly in the basements, and that they are coming from a manhole located near the garden”.

That letter explicitly warned of sightings in areas such as “the kitchen, the pathology department, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy” and requested clarification on the measures taken to eradicate the problem.

In response to these warnings, management stated that it had launched special pest control operations and maintained that “the measures carried out had assessed the brown rat population level at the inspected locations as low”. The UGT trade union has criticised this, arguing that the reality has made it clear that this assessment was inadequate, emphasising that “a rat in a hospital is still a rat in a hospital” and that “a patient’s room is not exactly the sort of place one expects to find one”.

Added to this situation is the previous incident involving a kitchen worker who suffered "significant burns" after spotting a rodent. Although the management stated that "no causal link had been established between the rodent’s presence and the burns sustained", the trade union insists that it raised the alarm from the very outset regarding the circumstances surrounding that unfortunate incident.

For all these reasons, the UGT is calling on management to stop hiding behind reassuring explanations and to provide “solutions, not half-measures”.

The trade union is calling for “an investigation into where the rodents are getting in”, for “a review of the effectiveness of the measures taken” and for proper monitoring to be maintained to ensure public health, concluding that “the staff and patients at Puerta del Mar Hospital do not need reassuring explanations, they need a hospital free of rats”, and therefore describe the administration’s handling of the situation as “a complete failure in management”.