Patient is attacked by a rat in an NHS hospital

A vulnerable patient was attacked by a rat in an NHS hospital, according to a report from a leading UK newspaper.

A man was bitten by a rat in an NHS hospital

A man, age 42, was left with injuries after being bitten by the rodent more than twelve times on his back and his neck whilst sedated in a specialist care unit at St Ebba’s Hospital in Surrey.

Jason Ketley, who has a mental age of two and suffers from bi-polar disorder, was spotted by NHS staff with the rat hanging from his neck by its teeth.

The Mirror reported that nurses at the unit knocked the rat off him before killing it.

Mr Ketley's outraged mother Pat Boardman, 64, told the newspaper: 'I was horrified. He was quite heavily sedated and wasn’t able to defend himself.

'He was completely helpless and terrified. It’s a disgrace. He was very scared and the staff had to show him they had killed the rat to prove it could no longer hurt him.

'I’m appalled that this sort of thing could happen to my son in an NHS hospital in this day and age.'

But hospital bosses have claimed the rat was in fact a field mouse. Mr Ketley was taken to Epsom General Hospital and given injections against diphtheria, tetanus and polio before being returned to the unit.

The Trust said they are looking in to the incident.

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