No new admissions being taken as cause of infection is investigated

AXMINSTER Hospital has been closed to new admissions following an outbreak of a mystery stomach bug.

A number of the 13 patients currently there have gone down with diarrhoea and vomiting.

Tests are being carried out to determine the cause but an NHS spokeswoman said the working assumption was that it was a straightforward D and V strain.

She said there was no indication of it being the more serious norovirus.

She told The Herald: “At present we don’t know what it is and our first priority is to work with infection control team to stop it spreading in the lead up to getting rid of it and putting the hospital back on line.”

She said staff at the 18-bed hospital have phoned all the relatives to let them know and tell them that if they do visit they will be required to use alcohol hand gel when they arrive and before they leave.

During the outbreak no new admissions will be accepted so patients being transferred nearer home from main hospital’s will have to be found beds elsewhere, like Seaton.

Patients at Axminster will be allowed return to their own homes, however.