THE Morecambe Bay hospital trust has this week defended its decision to ban flowers from all three of its sites.

Bosses at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust (UHMBT) said plants and flowers could pose a health risk to patients while vase water could cause a fall if spilled.

The ban - which also applies to artificial flowers because they gather dust - will apply at Westmorland and Furness general hospitals and Lancaster Royal Infirmary.

"The trust wants to make care as safe as possible for patients and if there's any risk of infection from standing flower water we want to remove that," said deputy chief nurse Lynne Wyre.

"We're doing a lot of work around harm-free care and reducing avoidable harm and this is just one aspect of that."

Sue Smith, executive chief nurse, said: "We hope that our patients and visitors will understand that this step will help us to keep patients, visitors and staff safe on the wards by reducing the risk of potential infection and preventing slips, trips and falls from accidentally-spilt water.

"We also have patients who are allergic to pollen so this eliminates any risk."

But on the streets of South Lakeland, people spoke of their 'dismay' at the ban.

Linda Thorpe, from Arnside, said: "I think it's a real shame.

"Flowers give off oxygen during the night which you'd think would be good for patients.

"I don't know if that's true but it's what I've heard. I wouldn't have thought flowers were the problem."

Brian Thorpe said: "People's everyday clothes must pick germs up. I think people are more of a problem than flowers."

Florists also hit out, saying a bunch of flowers can brighten up a hospital room while the ban will not be good for business.

"They say flower water carries bacteria but we can do arrangements in oasis, for example, so there's no water," said Emma Wright, manager at Impulse Flowers in Kendal.

"It's a bit of a shame because sometimes if people have been in there long-term a bunch of flowers can change their day."

Another Kendal florist, who asked not to be named, said: "If it's what's been decided then there's not a lot we can do.

"But it is a real shame."

A spokeswoman for the hospital trust, which runs Westmorland General, Furness General and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, announced the decision last week, saying the ban falls in line with other acute trusts nationally.

They say flower water can carry bacteria known as pseudomonas, which can get into wounds and cause chest infections.

"The conditions patients come in with are generally more acute so we have a lot more vulnerable patients than we had 10 years ago," added Deputy Chief Nurse Wyre, who explained less serious illnesses tend to be dealt with in the community.

But Roger Pickup, professor of biomedicine and life sciences at Lancaster University, said a vase of flowers is 'a generally safe unit'.

"The bacteria may perhaps leave the flowers into the air but generally it would be insignificant in number," he said.

However, he said vase water 'tends to foul' and could contain between 100 and 1,000 times more bacteria than tap water, which becomes a problem when it is moved or poured down a sink.

"A wide range of bacteria that are not normally a threat to healthy people are present in foul vase water, but are a threat to immuno-compromised or generally ill patients," he added.

"On the basis that the best disease control in a hospital is to remove all visitors, flowers might be a small price to pay."