Norovirus
Nine hospitals have had to close their wards due to an outbreak of the norovirus, says a new report.
The flu season as well and truly upon us and ITV News said that five hospitals had already closed to visitors and all the remaining adult wards had their visiting hours cut at Warwick Hospital.
Four wards at Southampton General Hospital have prevented any new patients being admitted and Weston General in Weston-Super-Mare is closed.
Hull Royal Infirmary, Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth, Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Warwickshire's Ellen Badger Hospital and Royal Bournemouth are among those that are affected.
The symptoms of the norovirus are generally diarrhoea and vomiting for up to three days, but can have serious ramifications for vulnerable or elderly people.
600,000 Brits catch this disease every year, so it’s no surprise that 2014 has seen big numbers of people who have been bed bound.
NHS England revealed in their Winter Health Check Report that norovirus sufferers took up 1,296 beds in the week ending on the 8th December.
Winter is normally the busiest time for such complaints as respiratory illnesses which are made much worse by the cold weather.
NHS officials said last month that they were “pulling out all the stops” to avoid a crisis this winter with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt admitting that pressures on hospitals were “higher than they have ever been”.