Anyone planning to visit Johnson Community Hospital is asked to stay at home if they or their family members have had diarrhoea, vomiting or flu-like symptoms in the last four days.
The request from Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS) is to help keep ‘winter vomiting’ or norovirus away from vulnerable patients and staff who could pass it on. Symptoms of norovirus include diarrhoea and vomiting and can seriously affect vulnerable patients.
It can be exacerbated by colder weather and be particularly serious for people who are already ill or who have a long term condition.
Cheryl Day, lead matron for infection prevention at LCHS, said: “Norovirus is highly infectious and easily spread through hand to hand contact, or by touching surfaces which have germs on them.
“We know that sometimes visitors feel they must take every opportunity to visit sick friends or relatives. However, if they themselves have been unwell, they could be putting others at risk.
“If you’re unsure whether to visit, please feel free to contact the ward nurse before you come into hospital.”
