Christmas could be off at QEH
CHRISTMAS could be off at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital if an outbreak of winter vomiting disease cannot be tamed.
Hospital chiefs have warned that because festive decorations can harbour the vomiting and diarrhoea bug, Norovirus, they will banned if the bug is not under control by Christmas Eve. Only the Rudham children's ward will be exempt from the ban,
Meanwhile families and friends of in-patients are being urged not to visit their loved ones this week to try to halt the spread of winter vomiting.
Yesterday 17 patients and two staff were still suffering from the Norovirus symptoms which, since the current outbreak began a month ago, have affected 109 patients and 95 staff in total.
Infection control experts have advised introducing the tough new measures to limit the ways in which the highly infectious bug is transmitted from person to person.
At the QEH, four wards, Elm, Feltwell, Terrington and Oxborough, remain closed to new admissions. Individual bays are also closed on Pentney, Stanhoe and West Raynham wards.
Until yesterday hospital visitors had already been asked not to bring in chocolates, biscuits, flowers or balloons, and to follow strict hand-hygiene procedures when entering and leaving wards.
A hospital spokesman said: "This is a particularly nasty bug and it is proving difficult to keep it out of the hospital at a time when it is so widespread in the community.
"Our new restrictions may appear unnecessarily harsh, but if we are to prevent the winter vomiting bug from spreading further we have to take a very tough line for the sake of our patients and their families.
"We are asking families not to visit relatives in this hospital unless it is absolutely essential. Visitors will only be permitted at the discretion of the supervising staff on each ward. This applies to the entire hospital, not just the wards affected by Norovirus, although the children's ward will be treated as a special case.
"We are determined to do our level best to bring winter vomiting under control before Christmas so that we do not cause undue hardship to patients or their families. We really do need the help and co-operation of the local community if we are to make this work."
The spokesman said staff were being instructed not to put up any decorations on the wards or in other clinical areas – and this decision would be reviewed on Christmas Eve in the light of the success, or otherwise, in controlling Norovirus. "Intense cleaning, including steam cleaning, is taking place on wards affected by winter vomiting," he added.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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