Concern over hospital sewage leaks

There are calls for more to be done to tackle sewage leaks - after figures show Forth Valley hospitals have been affected.

Data from a Freedom of Information request show two leaks have taken place at Falkirk Community Hospital since 2019.

There has also been an incident at Stirling Health and Care Village.

In a statement, NHS Forth Valley say:

"Three cases were reported over the last four years which represents a small fraction of the issues our estates teams deal with each year.

These were dealt with promptly and regular monitoring and maintenance programmes are in place for all our facilities to ensure that action is taken to address any issues identified as quickly as possible."

Commenting on the figures, Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie said:

“Fresh on the heels of revelations that the SNP allowed sewage to leak into our waterways more than 14,000 times last year, it has now emerged that there have been sewage leaks at our hospitals too.

“This will be worrying news for patients across Scotland but particularly those who rely on the Monklands hospital. I hope that health boards will be able to offer assurances that these issues have been addressed and will not happen again.

“The Scottish Government seem to be adrift without a plan. They must urgently work with regulators to upgrade Scotland's Victorian sewage systems and prevent incidents like these."