Friday 5 February 2010

Virus keeps wards closed at Royal Cornwall Hospital

Five wards at Royal Cornwall Hospital remain closed due to a vomiting bug.

Two other wards are affected at the hospital in Truro because of the norovirus outbreak but are not closed to new patients. Managers said outpatient appointments were not affected, although anyone who has been ill is asked to contact the hospital before going in.

Visiting restrictions are in place at Royal Cornwall, West Cornwall and St Michael's hospitals. People have been asked not to visit the hospitals unless it is to see a seriously-ill patient. Outpatient appointments are going ahead as normal and patients have been told to turn up provided they are not unwell or showing any symptoms themselves.

The symptoms of the infection include a sudden onset of nausea, followed by vomiting and diarrhoea. Norovirus is contagious from the moment a person begins to feel unwell until at least three days after symptoms have stopped.
Source: BBC

2 comments:

Pie said...

Your point?
I'm a student nurse, and norovirus and some hospital acquired infections are UNAVOIDABLE.
Yes, standards should be better maybe, but you will never get rid of hospital acquired infections, no matter what policies and procedures you put in place.
If people are ill (and they have to be to be in hospital) then they are more susceptible to infections. This is logical and obvious yes?
Then add to that the hundreds and hundreds of people entering and leaving the hospital every day...
Hospital acquired infections are not coming from the hospital, they are brought in by friends and relatives of patients... what would you want us to do? Ban visiting all the time?

Mark Wadsworth said...

Pre, this is a scrapbook blog of NHS stories, there is no agenda other than to gather them all in one place.