HEALTH bosses in Worcestershire are urging anyone planning to visit the county’s main hospitals to stay away if they or their family members have suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting or ‘flu-like’ symptoms in the previous four days.
The request from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is designed to help keep the ‘winter vomiting bug’ or norovirus away from vulnerable patients and staff who could pass it on.
Norovirus is highly contagious and can spread rapidly anywhere that people are gathered, such as schools, offices or public access buildings, especially during colder months.
Symptoms of norovirus include diarrhoea and vomiting and, just like flu, the virus can seriously affect vulnerable patients.
Mari Gay, interim chief nursing officer said: “People want to see friends and relatives in hospital as often as they can.
“However, by visiting while they’re ill with a stomach bug, they can easily bring the virus into hospital.
“This can be particularly serious for people who are already ill or who have a long-term condition.”
