Royal Oldham Hospital ward hit by vomiting bug

A BUSY ward at the Royal Oldham Hospital is on lock down today after a Norovirus outbreak.

Visiting has been cut to 30 minutes on the Medical Assessment Unit after patients were struck down with diarrhoea and vomiting.

Infected patients have been isolated and movement between wards kept to a minimum in a bid to try to contain the highly-contagious virus.

Outpatients or visitors — particularly the elderly or parents with infants and children displaying symptoms — are being urged to stay away from the hospital unless they have an urgent reason to be there.

A spokesperson for The Pennine Acute Trust, which runs The Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “Our nursing staff and infection-control staff have acted swiftly and professionally to isolate the infected areas to avoid the Norovirus spreading.

“We believe we have identified the source and we will be constantly reviewing the situation over the next 48 hours.

“The infected unit will be deep cleaned and in the meantime we have restricted visiting times.

“If patients do need to attend A&E they must inform staff if they have symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting.”

As a temporary measure the ward’s function has been moved to a short-stay ward on T5 at the hospital.

Local GPs are also being asked to minimise referrals of patients with diarrhoea and vomiting to A&E if possible.

The winter vomiting bug affects 600,000 to a million people each year.

Symptoms are severe but it is generally a short-lived illness from which the majority of people will recover in 12 to 60 hours without treatment.

The Trust aims to fully reopen MAU after a full review over the weekend.