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Northampton and Kettering General Hospital suspend visiting

PA Media Woman wearing face mask outside hospitalPA Media
Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals have suspended visiting and asked all patients to wear masks

Two hospitals in Northamptonshire have suspended visiting for adult wards and asked patients to wear masks.

Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals said the decision was due to a significant increase in Covid and flu cases.

In September, 16 beds were occupied by people with Covid infections but on Wednesday there were 120 patients with Covid and more than 70 with flu.

The hospitals said it was to "help keep our vulnerable patients safe".

From Thursday, visiting has been restricted to compassionate visiting only for adult inpatient wards.

The measures also aim to prevent the spread of infections and help to prevent staff absences, hospital bosses said.

Martin Barber/BBC Northampton General HospitalMartin Barber/BBC
There were 120 patients with Covid and more than 70 with flu across both hospitals on Wednesday

In a joint statement, the hospitals' chief operating officers (COOs), Palmer Winstanley and Fay Gordon, said the current variants of winter illnesses including Covid, flu, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and norovirus were "very infectious" and it had seen numbers of cases rise in both hospitals.

"As a result, we are suspending visiting on adult inpatient wards and are asking all patients and visitors to wear masks when coming to the hospital," the statement read.

"This will help us to prevent the spread of infection and keep our vulnerable patients safe from these winter illnesses."

The COOs added that they had been "impressed" by how the community had followed infection control arrangements throughout the pandemic and it was once again asking for its support.

"It is not a decision we take lightly, and we hope people understand why we are reintroducing these measures for the safety of our patients," the statement added.

Both hospitals will be offering virtual visiting to patients.

Maternity and paediatric departments will not be affected and compassionate visiting should be discussed on an individual basis with the ward team.

It added that the guidance will be reviewed continuously.

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