A Highland hospital is closed to visitors due to the “significant” number of patients with respiratory illnesses on the wards.
Visits to Belford Hospital in Fort William have been put on hold to protect patients, their loved ones and staff.
Only essential visitors, such as those with a loved one receiving end of life care, are permitted – and they should phone ahead to arrange.
Belford Hospital is one of four general hospitals operated by NHS Highland, however, none of the other three facilities has imposed visitor restrictions.
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said: “As part of our standard infection prevention and control assessment and containment measures, we have introduced restricted visiting processes. The Belford Hospital is currently closed to full visiting, but essential visiting continues.
“We would also like to remind people to avoid visiting vulnerable people in hospitals and other health and social care settings if they have flu-like symptoms or are feeling generally under the weather.
“We are also strongly advising people to think about whether they really need to come in to visit people in the hospital at this time.
“Reducing non-urgent visitor activity in confined spaces such as hospital wards will help to reduce risk to people who are ill, as well as reducing the wider spread of flu in the community.
Yesterday, NHS Highland confirmed that some patients from Raigmore that were well enough were moved to smaller units at other hospitals as “pressure remains high”.
