NOROVIRUS has struck again at Dorset County Hospital resulting in four wards closing and more than 35 patients and staff affected.

It is the third time in three months that the Dorchester hospital has had to deal with the vomiting and diarrhoea bug.

Staff said that the latest outbreak has had a major impact on the running of the hospital.

The wards that have been closed are the Day Lewis Ward for elderly patients, the Purbeck Ward, for orthopaedics, the Coronary Care Unit and the Hinton medical cardiology ward. The new outbreak follows a previous outbreak in February when three wards closed and more than 50 patients and staff were ill. Two wards were also shut by an outbreak over the new year. Staff believe that a patient from a residential home brought in the virus and sparked the latest outbreak.

Director of nursing and infection prevention and control Alison Tong is urging people to help contain the spread of the rapidly spreading airborne virus by not visiting the hospital unless it is essential.

She said: “We have a very good record for infection prevention and control.

“But this is another virulent strain of norovirus that has come into the hospital, with rapid onset diarrhoea and vomiting.”

She added: “We are strongly appealing to all members of the public who do not need to come to the hospital to refrain from doing so.”

All patients and visitors to the hospital are requested to use alcohol gel or wash basins in the entrances before they enter the ward area.

Any visitors with any symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting in the past 72 hours are asked to stay away until they have been symptom free for 72 hours.

Ms Tong added: “The hospital is taking every precaution possible to contain this virus and would ask for your co-operation with the measures we have put in place. “The staff are doing an amazing job in containing the virus – for instance on the Purbeck Ward they have managed to contain it within the ward.

“The trouble is norovirus knows no boundaries and people who come in contact with it will get the symptoms.”

According to the Health Protection Agency, norovirus is the most common cause of infectious stomach bugs and affects approximately 600,000 to 1 million people in the UK each year.

Ms Tong added: “Norovirus is easily transmitted from one person to another.

“However the resulting illness is self-limiting - the symptoms caused will last for 12 to 60 hours and can start with the sudden onset of nausea followed by projectile vomiting and diarrhoea although the pattern does vary.”

All three outbreaks this year have come from within the Dorset community and Ms Tong said that the virus is commonly spread in institutions and all it takes is one patient visiting the hospital to cause an outbreak.

Hospital vistor Andrew Kaye, 63, of Lyme Regis, said: “I think when there’s an outbreak like this you need to weigh up the need of visiting the hospital with the risks.

“People need to make sure they use the handwashing equipment because at the end of the day you can’t see a virus.”

His wife Ann, 67, said that the virus would not stop her visiting her father.

“My father is 94 and I would go and see him regardless – I feel sorry for the hospital really because it is a very clean well kept environment.”

Helen Bidwell, 45, of Puncknowle, said: “It is very worrying really – I’ve just taken my dad in there for a procedure and the last thing I want to think about is him getting this.”

  • Any patients that have suffered the symptoms in the last 72 hours should call the number on their appointment letter so their appointment can be rearranged.
  • Have you been hit by the norovirus bug? If so contact Miriam Phillips on 01305 756032.