27 May 2014

Balclutha hospital ward to reopen

5:18 pm on 27 May 2014

A community hospital in South Otago expects to reopen to patients on Wednesday after a serious outbreak of gastroenteritis.

The Clutha Health First facility in Balclutha stopped admitting people to its inpatient ward from the community or other hospitals on 19 May because of the vomiting and diarrhoea bug.

It is the hospital's second outbreak after a major bout of Norovirus shut wards two weeks earlier.

Clutha First said on Tuesday that none of its patients or staff have shown any new symptoms for 36 hours and if that continues, the ward will reopen on Wednesday at 1pm.