A patient says she “fears for her health” when she receives treatment for cystic fibrosis at a major London hospital.
Sarah Rainer, 30, said in-patients on a specialist ward at King’s College hospital are forced to share a single bathroom — in breach of advice for people with the lung and digestive condition not to mix to avoid cross-infection.
She said: “The bathroom is the most germ-ridden place there can be. I really fear being told I have to come to King’s.”
Almost 200 cystic fibrosis patients receive care at the hospital. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust has offered King’s £432,000 to upgrade the nine-bed adult ward but says the offer has gone untouched since 2010. It expires next March. The charity said patients were told last year that a new unit would be completed by the end of this year.
A hospital spokesman said expanding the ward was “one of our priorities, but it must be delivered alongside a number of other vital building and improvement works planned”. He added that “strict infection control protocols” were in place.
