20 Mar 2012
Health chiefs at Chesterfield Royal Hospital have said a decision to keep visitors away from its adult in-patient wards during an outbreak of norovirus has “paid off”.
The move over the last week was made in an attempt to contain the bug and prevent it from spreading to patients who are already fighting illness and recovering from surgery, for whom the virus can have serious consequences.
A statement said: “We’ve taken this tough step to try and resolve the outbreak of norovirus currently affecting a number of our adult in-patient wards – with many patients and staff affected by the illness.”
The symptoms of norovirus, sometimes called winter vomiting disease, include sickness and diarrhoea over a number of days.
The hospital says that while the virus remains ‘active’ on four wards, the number of affected wards has halved from eight last week. The visitor ban is set to continue, but a review is due to take place on March 21 to determine whether the preventative measures can be lifted.
Chief Nurse, Alfonzo Tramontano, said: “We understand how difficult this has been for patients and relatives; and we thank them and the local community for their continued patience and understanding. We are beginning to break the cycle of this illness and we hope to open to visitors again as soon as we can.”
Copyright Press Association 2012