A TOXIC insecticide spillage was cleaned up firefighters at Northwick Park Hospital's intensive care unit.
Two hundred millilitres of malathion, a low toxicity chemical that in very weak doses is used to treat body lice, head lice and scabies, was cleared from the floor of the first floor ward of the Watford Road, Harrow, building by firefighters at 1.15pm yesterday.
A spokeswoman for The North West London Hospital NHS Trust said a cleaner accidentally knocked from a shelf a bottle that had been left by an external contractor that had undertaken pesticide work.
She said while the substance did smell strongly, no patients or staff were evacuated, moved or injured, and it was purely as a matter of procedure that the fire brigade and chemical teams were called to the scene.
"Nothing of major interested happened," she said.
Crews from Harrow, Wembley and Northolt attended.