A cockroach infestation has forced a hospital to close 20 beds for five days. St Mary's Hospital on the Isle of Wight has booked 12 beds for elective surgery at a nearby private hospital because of the infestation. Closure of a medical ward will allow pest controllers access to 'below the floor, into heating ducts', where the infestation has been traced. A rat has been spotted in the kitchen of another ward. Isle of Wight healthcare trust chief executive Graham Elderfield said that this had been traced to a sewer drain 'under the hospital'. He denied that either infestation was caused by poor cleanliness, blaming 'very fine, hot weather' for the problem.