BACK room staff worked on wards to help Hereford County Hospital cope with a norovirus outbreak and “intense” pressure on A&E.

Over recent weeks, Wye Valley NHS Trust has lost around half of its beds and a number of its staff to norovirus.

The bug – which saw wards shut to admissions and visitors as patients showed symptoms – struck as the trust was struggling with another big rise in A&E attendances and emergency admissions that peaked at 20 per cent more than usual for the time of year.

This week, the trust board was told how non-clinical staff were drafted onto wards to help out with fetching, carrying and cleaning.

No non-clinical staff were engaged in clinical tasks.

But in saluting the effort, the board was told by trust medical director Dr Sally Stuke that bringing back office staff to the frontline meant back office work wasn’t being done.

Over February 8 to 11, norovirus struck to shut Lugg Ward and Arrow Ward and closed Ross Community Hospital to admissions and transfers.

With up to four wards closed to admission at the outbreak’s height, patient flow through the hospital slowed down leading to poor emergency department performance and, at times, poor patient experience.

The board heard that this could impact on the trust’s finances, despite receiving £10,583 million of non recurrent support against its underlying deficit.

Finance director Howard Oddy told the board that the trust was still on course to break even by the end of the financial year with the eventual receipt of £12.7 million in financial support accounted for.