Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Coronavirus cases close elderly care ward at Perth Royal Infirmary

Perth Royal Infirmary
Perth Royal Infirmary

A ward which cares for elderly patients at Perth Royal Infirmary has been closed due to an outbreak of coronavirus at the NHS Tayside hospital.

The Courier understands that staff members on Tay Ward tested positive for Covid-19 resulting in the section of the hospital being shut down late on Friday evening.

Tay Ward is part of the medicine for the elderly unit within the scope of Perth and
Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and provides rehabilitation for patients aged 65 years and over.

Perth and Kinross HSCP confirmed it had been locked down due to coronavirus.

A spokesperson for the partnership said: “Tay Ward at Perth Royal Infirmary has been closed temporarily due to Covid-19.

“Fortunately, there were no patients in the ward at the time it closed.

“All appropriate infection prevention and control measures have been put in place to ensure that the ward will be able to re-open when it is required.”

An NHS Tayside employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Courier staff members working on the ward had tested positive for the virus.

The whistleblower said: “Perth Royal Infirmary has had to close one of its care of the elderly wards, Tay Ward, due to several cases of Covid-19 .

“Staff have been positive and there are others who have symptoms.

“Around eight staff are positive or symptomatic.

“The ward was closed on Friday but was locked down before.”

The partnership would not respond directly to the claims about staff.

Tay Ward was already under stringent infection control guidelines before the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Policy on the ward insisted there were only two visitors to a bed and visitors were not to sit on patient’s beds or chairs.

Visitors were also required to use the hand cleansing gel on entering and
leaving the ward to help stop the spread of infections.

Hundreds of NHS Tayside workers have been tested for coronavirus at a staff assessment centre since mid-March with 540 out of 642 tested cleared to return to work last week.

Frontline workers, GPs, health and social care partnership staff, hospital staff, and pharmacists are all being seen at the NHS Tayside assessment hub.