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Vomiting bug shuts hospital ward
11:58am Wednesday 14th May 2008
A hospital has been forced to shut three wards because of an outbreak of diarrhoea and sickness.
Around 20 patients at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton have come down with the bug over the past few days.
The wards affected are Bristol, which cares for the elderly, and Solomon and Donald Hall which are for stroke patients.
The isolation is a standard procedure to reduce the risk of the bug spreading to other wards.
The symptoms are similar to those of the Norovirus, or winter vomiting virus, but this has not been confirmed.
A hospital spokeswoman said: "The situation is being reviewed on a daily basis and we are hoping to reopen the wards affected in the next couple of days.
"To help us contain this problem relatives and friends of patients who have had diarrhoea and vomiting or similar symptoms are asked not to visit the hospital until they have been symptom free for at least 48 hours."
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has recently introduced a new visitors code which includes steps to reduce infection.
As well as raising awareness of the importance of using the hand gels provided when entering and leaving each ward, people are also banned from visiting in the mornings.
This gives staff specific times to clean ward areas and patients will get the rest, treatment and care they need without interruption.
The more people who come on to a ward the greater the risk of infection to patients and the harder it is for staff to clean around them.
The hospital has deal with a number of outbreaks of vomiting and diarrhoea as over the past 12 months.
Around 22 wards were closed with 232 patients and 54 patients affected.
No staff have been affected in the current outbreak so far.
Closing wards has a knock-on effect around the hospital as bed shortages puts extra demand on the accident and emergency department as they try to find places for new patients.
One of the worst affected hospitals last year was Worthing which at one stage was forced to close five wards at the end of last year.
Many nurses and midwives had to take time off to recover and the hospital had to bring in expensive agency workers to provide cover.
The norovirus is not generally regarded as a hospital acquired infection like MRSA but if a patient brings it in then it can quickly spread.
Affected wards will be deep cleaned before they are reopened.
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