MORE funds are needed to mend “unsafe” NHS buildings, a health union has demanded after a damning study found many are infested with pests including rats, cockroaches and silverfish.

A Unison poll of nearly 9,000 health workers painted a worrying picture of the crumbling NHS estate, which currently has a £13.8 billion maintenance backlog.

About one in six (16 per cent) of hospital staff said they’d seen vermin inside their buildings in the past 12 months. 

The same portion reported evidence of infestations such as silverfish, ants and cockroaches.

The infestations pose a health risk, as cockroaches can transmit illnesses and diseases like gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, typhoid and salmonella.

Similarly, rats are known to carry diseases such as leptospirosis.

Seventeen per cent of staff reported that they don’t think their building is safe. 

More than half (52 per cent) said they’d seen buckets catching leaking water over the past year, while 23 per cent witnessed sewage leaks. 

Three in 10 reported broken staff toilets, while one in five warned of crumbling ceilings.

Earlier this year, one member at a Wirral hospital said fly infestations and dead rats had forced operations to be cancelled.

Another staff member in north-west England said there were vermin bait boxes dotted all over his hospital, yet rats still got into a room storing sterile instruments and supplies. 

Unison head of health Helga Pile said: “Previous governments made wildly exaggerated claims about building new hospitals and raided pots of cash earmarked to improve the NHS estate. 

“The NHS should be fit for the 21st century, not a crumbling Dickensian relic.

“Money needs to be made available immediately to sort out the worst of the problems. 

“Longer-term investment plans must be sped up and maintenance budgets spared the axe.”

 The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.