St James's Hospital closed to visitors

St James's Hospital in Dublin has suspended all visiting this weekend due to an outbreak of influenza.

The hospital says the suspension is in the interests of patient safety.

However, the Emergency Department at St James' remains open for emergencies - but the hospital is asking people with flu-like symptoms to contact their GP.

at St James’s Hospital, has this advice for patients.

"We're not allowing any visiting at this stage in the hospital, other than for relatives of people who are in extreme state," said Patrick Plunkett, Medical Director and Interim Chief Executive officer.

"That will have to be done through the site nurse managers and assistant director of nursing.

"The problem is that we've got a lot of flu in the hospital - we've got several wards with flu [and] our intensive care is affected by it. We're concerned that continued visiting will spread this."

He encouraged relatives to contact patients by telephone, and said another concern was that staff would themselves be infected with flu, preventing them treating patients.

Mercy University Hospital is also restricting all hospital visits, with the exception of the children's ward and critical care areas, over the weekend period.