Following eight patients developing symptoms associated with Norovirus (viral gastroenetritis) over the past few days, the Chief Nurse at St Mary’s Hospital is appealing to the public to not visit the hospital if they’ve been unwell recently.
The appeal is to help reduce the risk of the spreading the virus. Those showing symptoms have already been isolated and areas affected have been closed to new patients.
We understand that routine admissions are continuing as normal and visiting times running from 2-3pm and 7-8pm.
Advice from the experts
Carol Alstrom, Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention & Control said: “We had problems with norovirus over the winter period and thanks to the co-operation of the public and our staff we managed to contain the outbreak. We have left in place restricted visiting to St. Mary’s to try and reduce the risk of infection being brought into the Hospital.
Carol continued: “What is vitally important is for people to keep away from the hospital if they have been unwell recently, especially if they have had vomiting or diarrhoea in the past 48 hours. Gastroenteritis is highly infectious. I would discourage parents from bringing young children in to the hospital to visit friends and family at this time.”
Key advice is to drink lots of fluids and avoid dehydration.
If you’ve been experiencing any symptoms and they persist, call NHS Direct (0845 46 47), your own GP Surgery or for out of hours advice, contact the Island Health Line (0845 6031 007).
Image: Fimb under CC BY-SA 2.0
