Vomiting and diarrhoea outbreak at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin 'steadily improving' but restrictions remain

An outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea, which forced five hospital wards to close, is beginning to improve, a health board has confirmed.

NHS Grampian announced on Sunday that it had closed wards five, six and seven at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin to new admissions after more than 50 people were affected by the virus.

Ward eight and the Acute Medical Assessment Unit were also closed while non-essential visiting was suspended across the hospital as cases continued to rise.

An incident management team was set up to manage the outbreak which came after the health board declared a critical incident due to “extreme pressure” on services.

Ambulance patients who did not require life-saving treatment were taken to hospitals outside the area on Thursday, November 28, and elective procedures were postponed.

NHS Grampian has now confirmed the number of patients affected is decreasing and staff impacted by the illness are returning to work.

However, visitation restrictions will remain in place over the weekend and will be reviewed at the beginning of next week.

Lead nurse at Dr Gray’s Hospital, Helen Chisholm, said: “While we’re obviously very pleased people are recovering, we’re taking a cautious approach with visiting because these illnesses are so contagious and continue to circulate in the community.

“We will continue to support essential visits to the hospital and enabling virtual visiting for everyone else.”

Professor Duff Bruce, medical director at Dr Gray’s Hospital, added: “There has been a huge effort by our staff teams, along with our health & social care partners, and Scottish Ambulance Service, to maintain business as usual at the hospital during this outbreak.

“I want to publicly state my huge thanks to everyone involved and to extend that to the people of Moray for their patience and understanding.”