£250,000 spent battling winter bug

More than £250,000 has been spent in the battle against the norovirus winter vomiting bug at a Wolverhampton hospital, it was revealed today.

New Cross Hospital boss David Loughton said it cost £9,000 to deep cleanse wards and thousands had been spent on UV lights to kill the bug. And he revealed it would be at least April before the bacteria was completely wiped out.

The hospital is battling its worst outbreak of norovirus since 2002, with more than 300 patients and 140 staff affected.

Mr Loughton said the cost of fighting the virus was rising all the time.

"I would say it has cost in the region of £250,000 to clean and replace infected equipment," he said today.

"We had one nurse who was sick at the nursing station and we had to throw away pens, pencils, and all the stationery.

"We have also had to replace a lot of keyboards which are difficult to clean."

The hospital in Wednesfield has been forced to introduce a series of measures to combat the spread of the disease.

A visitor ban was put in place on January 18, preventing people from visiting unless in the case of critical ill patients which is at the ward manager's discretion.

It has now been partially lifted but five wards remain partially closed.

Despite this, Mr Loughton said the hospital was over the worst of the outbreak. "At the moment we are only getting two or three new cases a day," he said.

"That is nothing compared to its peak when we were getting about 45 new cases.

"The virus is killed when the temperature gets a bit warmer, so it won't be completely over until about April."

Norovirus affects up to one million people in the UK every year, with symptoms including headaches, fever and projectile vomiting.

The virus spreads from person to person through contact contaminated objects or surfaces.

One ward is still closed at City Hospital in Birmingham.

Wards at Sandwell General Hospital are now all fully open and the visitor ban lifted.

A visiting ban was made at the Alexandra Hospital, Redditch and Worcestershire Royal Hospital although that has since been lifted.