A DEAD pigeon found rotting on the roof of a surgical theatre caused surgeries to be cancelled.

The decomposing bird was discovered on the roof of a Southend Hospital surgery theatre on the afternoon of Friday, October 28.

An eyewitness to the chaos, who did not wish to be named, told the Echo the carcass was discovered after flies feeding on the body came through air vents into the operating theatre.

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“I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing when it was discovered,” they said,

“It was dead in the roof above one of the theatres causing flies to come through the air vents into the operating theatre.

“As soon as the alarm had been raised, they had to cancel a patient's surgery to allow for everything to made safe again.”

“Staff had to resterilise all of the surgical instruments as a result before surgery could resume.”

The eyewitness added: “It was one of the most surreal things I have ever seen, but I must admit it was all dealt with in a very professional and proficient manner.”

Mid and South Essex Trust has since confirmed that a pigeon was found on top of an operating theatre roof at the hospital.

The dead bird was removed, and the theatre was subject to a deep clean before being reopened, bosses at the trust have said.

The operating room was back-up and running before the end of the day.

As a result of the gruesome discovery, two patients’ operations were cancelled to allow for the clean-up operation.

Hospital bosses have told the Echo that their surgeries have already been rebooked by the trust.

The postponements will add to the back-catalogue of operations and faced by Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital.

The latest NHS England data shows 153,543 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at the trust at the end of August, an increase on 113,602 at the same point last year.

Of those, 10,435 (7 per cent) had been waiting for longer than a year.