YEOVIL NEWS: Two wards closed due to Norovirus sickness and diarrhoea bug

YEOVIL District Hospital is asking members of the public to avoid visiting two of its wards to help it control an outbreak of the diarrhoea and vomiting bug Norovirus.

Patients and staff on wards 7B and 8B have both been affected by the virus. The hospital has contacted patients’ families to advise them of the virus and has asked them to avoid visiting unless absolutely essential.

The hospital announced on Wednesday (April 5, 2017) that there was a problem and it would appear that things had not improved 24 hours later.

The wards have been closed to new admissions and visiting restrictions have been put in place while affected patients are cared for and intensive cleaning takes place.

Brand new technology will be used to deep clean the affected wards before reopening. The new Ultra-V machine uses UV-C light - usually filtered from the sun by our atmosphere - to eradicate germs. It takes less than an hour for the machine to eradicate pathogens from a hospital room and bathroom following a general clean, without the use of bleach or other harmful chemicals.

Shelagh Meldrum, Yeovil Hospital’s director of nursing and elective care, said: “Our priorities are to avoid this virus spreading any further within this ward or into other parts of the hospital, and to look after all those who are currently staying on these wards.

“Norovirus is an extremely unpleasant virus which can spread very easily, particularly in places such as hospitals, schools, and care homes, where people spend a lot of their time in close proximity to one another.

“Whilst our expert teams are working hard to clean the ward and keep people safe we need the public to play their part by only visiting these two wards if it is absolutely essential. We are also asking visitors to not bring in children to visit. We are working hard to reopen the two wards early next week.

“An outbreak in the hospital is often a sign that the virus is circulating in the community so we also need people to stay away from the hospital if they feel unwell or have been unwell. Please leave at least 48 hours after the last of the symptoms have stopped before you visit the hospital.”

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