Heads turned by Weston’s Norovirus mascot

As part of an awareness campaign patients and visitors to Weston General Hospital had an unexpected encounter with ‘Norm the Nororvirus’ today. 

There’s no cause for alarm though – it was simply a stunt as part of an event at the hospital to raise awareness with the public about the risks of Norovirus, and to remind people that, although winter is drawing to a close, the virus is still around in the community until early spring.

As part of the event, the larger than life mascot, named ‘Noro Norman’, helped to symbolise how easily the virus can spread in hospital – by tagging people with red stickers to show ‘infection’.

Weston General Hospital recently suffered an outbreak which led to two of its wards being closed due to the virus. Both reopened shortly afterwards.

The advice to people who have symptoms of Norovirus is to stay away from the hospital unless it is an emergency and for relatives to wait at least 48 hours before visiting.

To reinforce that message and to raise awareness of how easily Norovirus can spread in hospitals, staff organised the event, titled ‘#SayNotoNorovirus’.

Alongside Noro Norman, staff also handed out informational fliers and employed a glow box to illuminate unseen germs on visitors’ hands – a hotbed for infections in a hospital setting.

Speaking on the event, Helen Richardson, Director of Nursing at the Trust said: “Norovirus is extremely infectious. It is bought into the hospital from the community and so people coming into the hospital and carrying the bug can easily transmit it to our patients.

“We wanted to create an experience that would help to inform people about how infectious Norovirus is, especially in a hospital setting, and the damaging impact it can have. 

“Outbreaks of the virus can lead to ward closures, meaning people aren’t able to visit their loved ones – and it can have a serious impact on patients, in particular our more frail and elderly patients.

“Norovirus is spread easily through touch, so good hand hygiene – making sure you use soap and water to clean hands – is really important. I think our glow box, and Noro Norman, who helped to symbolise how infection is quickly passed round the hospital, proved an effective way to communicate that message.”

The Trust has also produced a short film, as part of the awareness campaign, to help educate people on the risks of Norovirus. The film can be viewed at here.

Helen Richardson adds: “Our film helps to remind people that tackling Norovirus is everyone’s responsibility. We need the public to help keep the hospital Norovirus free and say #NotoNorovirus together.”