Norovirus outbreak at Craigavon Hospital

A spokesperson from the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said: “Norovirus is currently affecting a small number of patients in two wards at Craigavon Area Hospital. The hospital’s Haematology Ward and Ward 2 North Respiratory are temporarily not taking any admissions however all new admissions are being accommodated to other medical wards in the hospital.

“Full infection prevention and control measures have been implemented and the situation is under constant review. It is hoped to re-open the ward to admissions soon if no new cases are reported. The remainder of the hospital is operating as normal.

Director of Acute Services at the Trust, Esther Gishkori, has appealed to visitors to limit the spread of this common virus: “The Trust is appealing to people to help prevent the further spread of infection by only visiting if they really need to; restricting visiting to designate visiting times and using the alcohol hand rub provided. We also urge people not to visit if they or someone in their household has symptoms of cold, flu, vomiting or diarrhoea.”