HEREFORD County Hospital is working with a full set of wards again.

Wye Valley NHS Trust confirmed that Redbrook ward opened this afternoon (Mon) having been shut for a week to a norovirus outbreak.

The ward has been subject to an intensive deep clean.

Redbrook was lost to norovirus last Tuesday, just 24 hours after the hospital called itself clear of the bug having re-opened other shut wards.

As reported by the Hereford Times, ward closures and pressure on patient numbers have sen around 60 operations due at Hereford County Hospital put off until after Easter amid fears of another surge in emergency cases over the Bank Holiday.

Last Monday, the hospital was working with a full set of wards for the first time in weeks.

Frome ward had been  re-opened after an intensive deep clean having been, then, the last still shut to norovirus.

Lugg ward re-opened the previous Thursday after being shut for several days.

By the Tuesday, diarrhoea and vomiting broke out on Redbrook.

Last month, 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 performance and patient experience.

The trust called its second internal incident in a month on March 9.

It was over by March 11 as patient numbers began to stabilise after a surge lasting several days complicated by the wards shut and beds lost to norovirus.

The Trust has confirmed admission numbers as up by 16 per cent on the same time last year.