A norovirus outbreak which shutdown areas of a Scots of hospital is showing signs of improving, health chiefs have confirmed.
Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin was wiped out by the diarrhoea and vomiting bug forcing bosses to close several wards and place a van on visiting.
NHS Grampian announced they were dealing with a serious outbreak of the winter bug that had affected more than 50 people including staff.
Wards five, six, seven and eight at the hospital were locked down and closed to new admissions. The Acute Medical Assessment Unit was also shutdown.
An incident management team was scrambled to deal with the outbreak. It came just days after NHS Grampian was plunged into crisis with ambulances diverted to hospitals outside of the area on Thursday, November 28. Elective procedures were also postponed.
STV reports that the health board have today confirmed that a number of patients have now recovered from the virus, with staff impacted by the illness also returning to work.
However the strict visiting ban will remain in place over the weekend with a review set for the start of next week.
Lead nurse at Dr Gray’s Hospital, Helen Chisholm, said: “While we’re obviously very pleased people are recovering, we’re taking a cautious approach with visiting because these illnesses are so contagious and continue to circulate in the community.
“We will continue to support essential visits to the hospital and enabling virtual visiting for everyone else.”
Professor Duff Bruce, medical director a t Dr Gray’s Hospital, added: “There has been a huge effort by our staff teams, along with our health & social care partners, and Scottish Ambulance Service, to maintain business as usual at the hospital during this outbreak.
“I want to publicly state my huge thanks to everyone involved and to extend that to the people of Moray for their patience and understanding.”
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