Hospital bosses have revealed the staggering cost of an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug norovirus - which has closed five nursing homes and cost 87 bed days.
The board of Arrowe Park Hospital , Birkenhead , has urged patients or visitors who may have contracted the disease to stay away until they have been clear of symptoms for at least 48 hours.
A Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust report revealed the hospital experienced outbreaks of confirmed norovirus across six wards in the space of 10 days.
At the time of writing the report, 79 patients had reported symptoms of the bug including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Testing had confirmed the specific virus in 19 cases, and more than 87 bed days, where a patient occupies a bed for 24 hours, were lost to the bug.
The report said: "The causative factor of at least two of the outbreaks has been from visitors coming into the trust with known symptoms.
"There have been five Nursing Homes closed with norovirus and we have been in close contact with our community colleagues, including the North West Ambulance Service, and our joint media messages have been encouraging members of the public not to visit the trust if they are symptomatic and ensuring they refrain from visiting for at least 48 hrs until free of symptoms.
"Posters are on the entrances to wards, in A&E and out-pts we are asking patients to inform a member of staff if they have symptoms."
Acting chief nurse at the trust, Paul Moore, told the ECHO: "Norovirus continues to circulate in the community and since the Board report the number of confirmed patient cases has increased.
"Therefore we continue to urge people with symptoms of norovirus, such as diarrhoea and/or vomiting, to remain at home until they have been clear of symptoms for 48 hours. There is no specific treatment for norovirus and it usually clears within a few days.
"Members of the public are asked not visit patients at hospital if they’ve had symptoms in the past 48 hours, so we can protect vulnerable patients from the spread of Norovirus.
"Anyone who has symptoms and requires medical advice medical where it is not an emergency, they can call NHS 111 at any time of the day.”
Several members of staff are also understood to have been affected , although Mr Moore said this had only been a "small number" of cases.
The hospital is recovering from a deadly clostridium difficile (C-diff) outbreak which claimed the lives of three people this year.
The trust identified run down hospital wards, lack of adherence to infection control protocols and poor cleaning practices as contributing to the disease running rife.
Although the outbreak has been brought under control, long term maintenance and improvements to prevent the the same issues recurring are estimated by the trust to take 11 years and cost £13million .
