Hillingdon Lib Dems' Parliamentary spokesman Mike Cox has described as "scandalous" the news that surgical instruments at Hillingdon Hospital and Mount Vernon were contaminated with human flesh.

"While the Hospital Trust might describe this as a 'one-off aberration', it seems incredible to me that this appalling failure of basic cleanliness went undiscovered almost into the operating theatre itself. This is a scandalous state of affairs."

"When people are ill or being operated on, they are at their weakest and most vulnerable to disease. They need the very best standards of clean surroundings. To do anything less puts their lives and future health at risk."

"I've recently visited a family member in a hospital in Bolton which is so clean it sparkles - a feeling I've never had in Hillingdon. I want assurances that the instruments here are sterilised properly and that our wards cleanliness is brought up to the standards I've seen elsewhere."