Health chiefs at a children’s hospital ordered staff to remove tinsel from wards after it was deemed a fire hazard.
Staff at the hospital have blasted the decision after workers had come in on their own time to hang the Christmas decorations.
Despite the tinsel being taken down, a charity has made sure the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow still has a festive feel.
But one member of staff, who did not want to be named, was still angry about the decision to pull the tinsel down.
The worker said: “The Christmas decorations have been deemed a fire hazard after staff had put them up.
“It’s a real kick in the teeth for the staff who came in from other organisations in their own time to hang them all.
“Staff in the hospital are angry too at how hypocritical it is.
“You are not meant to smoke on NHS grounds and yet people smoke outside the hospital all the time and no one does anything to resolve that, yet as soon as the Christmas decorations are deemed hazardous they are taken down.”
Despite the tinsel being taken down, a charity has made sure the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow still has a festive feel.
The Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity arranged for decorations to be brought into the hospital and hung by volunteers in order to bring cheer to the patients.
But the tinsel was quickly pulled down after bosses at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said it was a fire hazard.
The charity have tried their best to make sure the rest of the decorations maintain the Christmas spirit at the hospital.
A spokesman for the charity said: “The Christmas decorations are part of our ongoing play and events programme, which runs year-round in partnership with NHSGGC.
“Thanks to our generous supporters we have been able to ensure that the hospital has a festive feeling throughout with decorations, trees, a Santa’s grotto and many more festive activities scheduled for the coming weeks.
“We have removed one type of decoration following a recommendation from NHSGGC.
“Alongside patient safety our priority is to ensure that children in hospital have the best Christmas possible.”
A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: “Unfortunately ceiling decorations donated by the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity were not fire resistant and as our priority is always the health and safety of our staff and patients these have been removed.”
