HEALTH chiefs are urging staff, patients and visitors not to panic after rats were seen running around the grounds of Southampton General Hospital.

The Daily Echo has received calls from concerned visitors at the hospital who had spotted the vermin in the garden area between the car park and the main entrance.

Vivienne Hughson, from Swaythling, who was visiting a relative at the hospital, said: "They're in the gardens with the nurses, in the area where staff and patients sit.

"I see them on a regular basis and rats carry diseases. It's horrendous."

Hospital spokeswoman Marilyn Kay denied there was a specific problem at the General.

She said: "We've had three reports of sightings in the last six weeks so it's nothing untoward.

"That may sound like quite a lot but it's a big area. There's a lot of pairs of eyes and ears 24 hours a day.

"As far as we're concerned we haven't got a specific problem but this is something that we're always careful about."

Mrs Kay said staff, patients and visitors were urged not to drop litter in the grounds and asked them to refrain from feeding the ducks at the hospital's pond for fear of attracting rats.

She added: "We have our own pest control and we do take care. They don't come near the actual hospital but there are occasional sightings in the grounds in the same way you would see one running across the road anywhere.

"We have the same sort of level of problem that all the readers have.

"We do encourage people not to feed the ducks.

"Please use the litter bins, don't leave food and bits of sandwich because that will attract the rats and it's something that we don't wish to happen."