Toys banned from doctors' surgeries because of infection fears

New guidelines issued by the Department of Health to prevent the spread of superbugs mean that cuddly and wooden toys are a high risk because they are more difficult to clean.

Doctors criticised the approach as "bureaucracy gone mad".

Trafford Primary Care Trust ordered the 10 clinics in its area to remove all soft toys because it does not have the facilities to wash them regularly. It is the latest in a series of bans on everyday items by healthcare groups on health and safety grounds.



Last month it was disclosed that two Scottish NHS trusts banned flowers such as lilies and geraniums from general wards because of fears that they would set off people's allergies. And in Suffolk, elderly people in sheltered accommodation were denied hot food because of fears that staff might burn themselves delivering it.

In 2006 visitors to St Bart's Community Hospital in Rochester, Kent, were told to remove "Get Well Soon" cards and family photographs from patients' bedsides because of fears that they might spread germs.

A spokesman for Trafford PCT said that all soft and wooden toys had been removed because they are difficult to clean.