Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ward closures in each of the last five years were due to novovirus outbreaks.
The following table shows the number of suspected and laboratory confirmed norovirus outbreaks and ward/bay closures in hospitals reported to Public Health England from 2013-16.
Year | Total number of norovirus outbreaks | Number of laboratory confirmed norovirus outbreaks | Number of ward/bay closures* |
2016 | 573 | 433 | 547 |
2015 | 662 | 436 | 617 |
2014 | 689 | 459 | 642 |
2013 | 881 | 593 | 810 |
*Note:
Not all outbreaks result in whole ward closures; some closures are restricted to bays only. The data on ward and bay closures are not available separately.