Mental health wards closed after norovirus outbreak in Tower Hamlets

MENTALLY ill patients at an East End hospital have been hit by the winter vomiting bug with wards forced to close to stop it from spreading. Two wards in Mile End Hospital closed their doors to new patients for at least a week in January after nine pat

MENTALLY ill patients at an East End hospital have been hit by the winter vomiting bug with wards forced to close to stop it from spreading.

Two wards in Mile End Hospital closed their doors to new patients for at least a week in January after nine patients and seven members of staff were struck by the norovirus and another three patients battled with diarrhoea.

The wards within the Tower Hamlets Centre for Mental Health, based at the hospital in Bancroft Road and run by the East London Foundation Trust, are the first to be closed in the East End since the bug started sweeping the country after Christmas.

Robinson Ward was closed for eight days after five of its elderly dementia patients were affected, with two having to be hospitalised with aspiration pneumonia.

Globe Ward was closed for six days and four adults were put in isolation while three patients were hit with diarrhoea in the elderly Leadenhall Ward.

A trust spokeswoman confirmed all staff were trained in infection control to stop the bug from spreading and all visitors were being urged to wash their hands as usual.

Four patients at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel caught the winter vomiting bug in January but no wards were closed.