Many people may have recently developed diarrhoea and vomiting caused by Norovirus, (winter vomiting). This causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramping.
The illness usually lasts 24 to 48 hours.
Please do not visit the hospital if you or your family are suffering from any of the above symptoms and do not visit until you have been well for at least 48 hours.
You may be concerned about hospital acquired infections - infections that may pass from one patient to another and from the hospital into the community. The Trust takes infection prevention very seriously and has put procedures to reduce the risk of acquiring infections into practice.
Infections cannot be prevented completely and most infections can be successfully treated. What is important, however, that we do everything that is possible to prevent the spread of infections.
Top of our list is 'hand hygiene' - and for this reason we have introduced a hand hygiene policy throughout the hospital and joined the NHS 'Clean your Hands' campaign.
We hope that visitors, as well as patients and staff, will take the advice we are giving and help us to prevent the spread of infections.
For further information, please see:
More information about hand hygiene can be found on the NHS Clean Your Hands| website.
We also have some leaflets on various hospital acquired infections:
More information about infectious diseases can be found on the Health Protection Agency| website.
Hand hygiene is essential in controlling the spread of infection.
Pandemic flu
Information about pandemic flu can be found on the DOH webpage Pandemic Flu| .
Here you can find the contingency plan, and information and resources for health professionals and the public on pandemic influenza. The plan has been produced to ensure that the Government, public and NHS are properly prepared in the event of a flu pandemic.
In addition, the DOH web page Pandemic influenza: what are the risks?| provides the most recent news concerning pandemic flu.
Local information from the Suffolk Health Protection Team
Suffolk Health Protection Team's information page| (held on the Suffolk Public Health Network website) provides further information and local guidelines about communicable diseases.