Mercy Hospital shuts to visitors to stop spread of bug

A busy city centre hospital in Cork has shut its doors to visitors until midday today in an attempt to halt the spread of the winter vomiting bug.

The Mercy University Hospital, a 350-bed acute hospital, first introduced visitor restrictions last Monday after six cases of the highly infectious norovirus were identified, including in the cardiac ward.

That number had dropped to five cases yesterday. A spokesperson for the hospital said it was no longer in the cardiac ward but remained in two other wards.

While the children’s ward was initially exempted from the ban on visitors, by yesterday, it was included.

The spokesman said visitors would only be admitted “in exceptional circumstances”.

“The public should expect not to be able to gain access to the hospital until midday at the earliest,” the spokesman said.

Management at the hospital will review the situation today.

Restrictions have also been put in place at Cork University Hospital (CUH).

The HSE said yesterday it was keeping a number of “suspected cases” at CUH under review.

A spokeswoman said that the restrictions were in the interest of patient care in an effort to curb the spread of the bug.

“The norovirus can seriously impact on the work of the hospitals as it results in reduced capacity for admissions because of the necessary infection control measures that are put in place to protect patients, the staff caring for them and to curb the virus spreading,” said the spokeswoman.

With more pressure on bed capacity, she said CUH and the Mercy were appealing to the public to only attend the emergency department if necessary.

Hospital management is asking where appropriate, the public contact their GP or Southdoc first and explore other options such as local urgent care centres, prior to attending the emergency department if their needs are not urgent.

The spokeswoman said they were requesting anyone affected by vomiting and/or diarrhoea not visit the hospitals, or any healthcare facility, until they have been symptom-free for 72 hours. CUH allows two visitors per patient, with no children allowed. Visiting is 2pm to 4pm and 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

Nationally, the number of cases of noroviral infection for 2014 stands at 744 compared to 1,428 for the same period last year, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

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