The north’s flagship hospital has been closed to visitors due to a highly infectious sickness bug.
In the past hour, visiting to Raigmore Hospital has been temporarily suspended after a medical ward was closed to new admissions due to symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting.
Ward 7C, which was closed yesterday, currently has three confirmed cases of norovirus and eight patients affected with symptoms.
The Infection Prevention and Control Team are monitoring the situation and due to the number of norvirus cases within the hospital and out in the community it has been agreed to take the decision to suspend visiting to the hospital to try and prevent, as much as is possible, any more norovirus outbreaks.
Dr Jonty Mills, consultant microbiologist for NHS Highland, explained this decision has been taken to try and reduce the incidence of norovirus within the hospital.
He said: “We have taken the decision today to suspend all visiting at Raigmore Hospital on a temporary basis.
“We currently have a high number of patients in hospital with symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting and we also know it is found in the community. By reducing the amount of traffic coming in to the hospital we hope that will reduce the risk of any further outbreaks of Norovirus.”
Katherine Sutton, Raigmore Hospital’s deputy director of operations, said: “We have a responsibility to make things safe and we know that norovirus is being brought into the hospital.
“We are asking members of the public not to come in to hospital to visit any ward however, there will be exceptions to that rule, such as an emergency situation, which can be arranged by prior arrangement with the nurse in charge.
“Hospital staff will of course be very happy to talk to visitors on the phone so they can get updates on how their relatives are.
“We appreciate your understanding for why we have had to take this decision and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
