Skye hospital reopens to new admissions a week after virus outbreak

Published on 12/10/2012 17:35

THE Isle of Skye’s main hospital has reopened to new admissions after an outbreak of diarrhoea and sickness among patients and staff closed it for a week.

• Dr Mackinnon Memorial Hospital open to new admissions but not visitors

• Norovirus suspected to be the cause of sickness

Five patients and 14 members of staff at the Dr Mackinnon Memorial Hospital at Broadford had been affected.

Today NHS Highland said that while it was taking admissions again it still wanted visitors to stay away.

Kate Earnshaw, district manager for Skye, Lochalsh and West, said: ”I am delighted that we were able to reopen the hospital to admissions this morning.

“I would like to thank the public for their cooperation in not visiting while staff were dealing with this outbreak. I would also like to pay tribute to the staff who have gone above and beyond to ensure that we could still deliver care for our patients.

“While the hospital has reopened we know that diarrhoea and vomiting is in the community and it was likely that it was brought in to the hospital. So we would still ask people not to come to the hospital to visit, especially if anyone has had any vomiting or diarrhoea within the previous 48hrs.”

It is suspected that norovirus, which spreads in the air, may be the cause.

There is no specific treatment for a norovirus infection and it is not usually necessary to visit a doctor. The best course of action is to stay at home, take paracetamol to relieve symptoms of any fever and to drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration.

People should also adhere to strict hand washing techniques to reduce the spread of the virus.