Norovirus is often called the winter vomiting bug, but you can get it any time of year. There are a high number of infections in the local community and it is coming into hospital.
Norovirus spreads easily between people. For most, it is a nasty infection that you will recover from in a few days, but for people who are ill, frail or very young it can be dangerous and cause serious illness. This is why we are asking visitors to stay away from our hospital if they have any sickness or diarrhoea.
We know that you will want to visit your loved ones if they are in hospital, but if you come in when you have diarrhoea or sickness it could:
- Spread to patients, making them seriously unwell
- Make us need to close a ward, so the virus doesn’t spread to other patients and that would mean that we don’t have space for other patients who need to be in hospital
- Spread to our staff meaning they have to take time off work and so we have fewer people to look after our patients.
If you have diarrhoea or sickness, or you have had close contact with someone who has, you should not visit patients in hospital for at least 48 hours (two days). If you are a carer for someone in hospital, or your loved one is in end-of-life care, please contact the ward for advice.
Whenever you enter or leave our hospital, and before you go into any wards please make sure you thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water. If hand washing facilities are not available use hand sanitiser.
Symptoms of Norovirus
The main symptoms of Norovirus usually start suddenly and may include:
- feeling sick
- being sick (vomiting)
- diarrhoea
You may also have:
- a high temperature
- a headache
- tummy pain
- body aches and pains
If you or your child have norovirus, you can usually treat it at home. It is best to stay at home to avoid passing it to other people and to have lots of fluids to avoid dehydration.