PATIENTS and visitors at Basildon hospital are furious at the state of parts of the building and grounds, which are covered in bird faeces.

Hospital bosses have acknowledged the problem and are taking action over the "disgusting" state of various parts of the site.

Residents claim that some patients' 'last views' are windows covered in the faecal matter. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has seen images of bird faeces in the car park and on the windows at the hospital wards.

After being contacted by the LDRS, an interim managing director for the hospital, said it would be cleaned up as soon as possible and apologised for the impact caused.

Nicky Gorringe, 57, from Grays, has led a clean-up campaign. She said: "It is unhygienic. The hospital or those companies contracted to clean need to be held accountable. It must also be disheartening for staff to work in that environment. The hospital has been failing for years and there are numerous problems but these contractors are being paid for nothing."

She took to social media to post about the mess at the hospital and more than 150 others also raised concerns and serious fears.

Another angry resident, who asked to remain anonymous, added: "It's disgusting. My late friend was in the respiratory ward in this hospital and there was pigeon poop all over her windows. The money they get from parking charges could sort this."

Another angry commentator said the bird waste in the car park has been there for "about two years" and also that it's "dangerous" to people and can make people sick. The social media post has sparked huge anger with almost 600 people reacting and 50 sharing it.

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Maimuna Mushabe, Interim Managing Director for Basildon Hospital, said in response: "I would like to apologise for the impact this has had on our patients, visitors and staff, and recognise the health and safety risks posed by pigeon waste on the Basildon Hospital site.

"Cleaning will be taking place in the multi-storey car park stairwells by morning, with a longer-term strategy being developed to address the ongoing pigeon issues, particularly those related to nesting within the carpark stairs. This will help make sure that the environment is safe and well-maintained for everyone."