Precautionary Ward Closure At Stamford Hospital Due To Diarrhoea And Vomiting, England

Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Also Included In: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Article Date: 28 Nov 2008 - 0:00 PST

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Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has one ward closed to new admissions to manage patients with diarrhoea and vomiting at Stamford Hospital.

The John Van Geest ward at Stamford Hospital remains closed to new admissions. No more patients have developed symptoms of diarrhoea or vomiting. Two patients have ongoing symptoms. Two more members of staff developed symptoms on 25 November.

Chris Wilkinson, Director of Nursing, said: "We can only begin specially cleaning the ward in preparation for it to be reopened once it has been symptom-free for 48 hours.

"Diarrhoea and vomiting can spread easily and it is commonly brought into hospital by the community. There are ways that people can help us to limit infection. We are asking people who have had diarrhoea and vomiting in the past 72 hours not to visit the hospital and not to bring young children to visit patients who have had diarrhoea and vomiting."

Visitors can also help to tackle infections in the following ways:

- Not visiting the hospital if they have had diarrhoea and/or vomiting (D&V) or a cold in the past 72 hours

- Being familiar with visiting guidelines, especially a maximum of two visitors for each patient and ward visiting times (for the majority of ward areas these are 2-4pm and 6-8pm)

- Not bringing young children to visit patients who have had D&V

- Always performing good hand washing on entering and exiting ward areas

- Not using patient toilets

- Not sitting on patient beds

- Not sharing food with patients

The Trust has rigid infection prevention and control measures in place as a matter of course and is continually looking to make further improvements:

- It has a successful isolation ward in place at the Edith Cavell Hospital and has now introduced this scheme at the District Hospital as well. This will allow it to move patients, where clinically appropriate, with an infection into the same ward to prevent further spread.

- It is always trying to improve antibiotic prescribing to help fight C diff (antibiotics sometimes destroy the good bacteria in a patient's gut which allows the C diff organism to spread)

- It continually promotes good hand hygiene to patients, staff and visitors

- It has strict cleaning codes in place in normal service and during and after any outbreak

Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust