{"id":386534,"date":"2026-01-23T18:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386534\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T18:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:24:08","slug":"ipswich-hospital-and-esneft-report-norovirus-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386534\/","title":{"rendered":"Ipswich Hospital and ESNEFT report norovirus cases"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n This follows NHS England data that revealed East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) – which covers Ipswich and Colchester hospitals – had nearly 50 cases of norovirus confirmed.\n<\/p>\n

\n However, a spokesperson for the trust has stated that the outbreak was not the reason for a critical incident being declared last week.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n ESNEFT have stated that the norovirus outbreak is unrelated to the critical incident declared last week (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n

\n The national data discovered that ESNEFT recorded an average of 32 patients with norovirus in the week ending January 18.\n<\/p>\n

\n That followed 17 cases being confirmed across the two hospitals the week prior – ranking their 49 cases as the 11th highest out of the 212 trusts in England.\n<\/p>\n

\n An ESNEFT spokesperson said: “While the demand for our urgent and emergency services has been high, norovirus is not a reason for the recent pressures in A&E and the majority of cases have been at Colchester Hospital, not Ipswich.”\n<\/p>\n

\n In contrast, the national data showed that West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust recorded zero cases of norovirus across the same time period.\n<\/p>\n

\n Having declared a critical incident last week, ESNEFT subsequently downgraded that status earlier this week amid ‘significant pressures’.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Catherine Morgan. Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at ESNEFT (Image: ESNEFT)\n<\/p>\n

\n Catherine Morgan is Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at ESNEFT said: \u201cNorovirus can spread very easily and quickly.\n<\/p>\n

\n “You can help to prevent the spread of this nasty infection by washing your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water.\n<\/p>\n

\n “If you catch norovirus, or you\u2019re recovering from it, you shouldn\u2019t return to work, school or visit our hospitals until you have been symptom-free for two days.\n<\/p>\n

\n “If your symptoms are severe, persist beyond a few days or if you\u2019re concerned, call NHS 111 or your GP for advice.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n What is norovirus?\n<\/p>\n

\n Norovirus, also known as the winter vomiting bug, is a stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhoea. It usually takes around two to three days for it to pass.\n<\/p>\n

\n In medical terms, it causes gastroenteritis, which is an inflammation of the stomach and intestines.\n<\/p>\n

\n It spreads through contaminated food or water, surfaces, and close contact with infected individuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This follows NHS England data that revealed East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) – which covers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-386534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}