Further surgery delays due to bug

Norovirus is highly infectious and causes sickness and diarrhoea

Operations at two hospitals have been postponed for a further two days due to an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting.

Planned surgery has been cancelled on 25 and 26 September at Alexandra Hospitals, Redditch, and Worcestershire Royal Hospital, in Worcester.

Kidderminster Hospital is also affected but no surgery has been postponed.

Visitors have been asked to only come to hospital if essential. In some cases of illness, the highly infectious norovirus is being blamed.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust stressed that it was only non-urgent elective operations which had been cancelled and that anyone not contacted by the hospitals should still attend.

Surgery was originally postponed on Wednesday and Thursday.

'Community help'

The operations are being cancelled because of a lack of available beds.

Dr Anne Dyas, from the trust, said moving patients increased the risk of the outbreak spreading.

In a statement, the trust said: "It may be possible for simple cases of diarrhoea and vomiting to be managed effectively at home.

"Only those patients with other underlying illnesses need to come into hospital.

"If you come into hospital with diarrhoea and vomiting, there is an increased risk of infection to patients who are already unwell and to the staff who are caring for them."

A spokeswoman for the trust added that it took 48 hours before someone was considered clear of the bug and those affected should not visit the hospitals.

"We need the cooperation of the public. It's through the community helping us that we can get over this outbreak quickly," she said.