A woman, who was in Dunedin Hospital after giving birth, is concerned she and other new mothers were not advised of last week's norovirus outbreak in other wards.
Otago District Health Board infection prevention and control charge nurse manager Jo Stodart said there would be no need for patients from other wards to be told about a closed ward as it should have no impact.
The Ranfurly woman, who did not wish to be named, said while she and her second baby received excellent care at the hospital, she was " really disappointed" about not being notified about norovirus.
She was only aware the illness was in the hospital after she had read the Otago Daily Times report of its return which affected orthopaedic ward 3C early last week, followed a few days later by elderly health-care wards 6A and 6B.
"Someone should have come round and said 'It's back in the hospital. If you go in the lifts or touch anything make sure you wash your hands and use sterilising gel.'"
The woman said she was sharing a room with three other mothers and all had babies in the newborn intensive care unit.
Hygiene protocols in the unit were strict, but she still considered the women should have been told about the outbreak.
One of the mothers had been visited by someone who had been visiting a patient in 3C.
She said she was particularly aware of the dangers of the virus because her older child, now 20 months, had an immune system which was compromised.
She had not taken the risk of allowing him anywhere near the hospital while she was there.
Mrs Stodart said anyone visiting patients in isolation was advised to talk to nursing staff before going into the room and told not to visit other patients after that visit.
Staff wore gloves and/or gowns and/or masks when dealing with all types of patients in isolation and then disposed of the gear after dealing with each patient.
Visitors often had to don the same type of gear and the precautions were made clear to them.
As far as lift controls and other surfaces were concerned, Mrs Stodart that as soon as there was an outbreak cleaning staff "up the ante" on cleaning "high touch surfaces".
The reality was that the risk of infection was high in hospitals because they were dealing with a lot of people.
The best infection control was to get people home as soon as possible.
Mrs Stodart again urged people thinking of visiting the hospital to stay away if they had had vomiting and diarrhoea.
People should be symptom-free for at least 48 hours before considering visiting.
She believed last week's outbreak was likely to have been the result of a person with symptoms visiting the orthopaedic ward, although this could not be guaranteed.
All wards had reopened, but Mrs Stodart said norovirus was clearly still out in the community and she understood it had shown up in a rest-home.
Cases were still being seen at the hospital emergency department, where they would immediately be isolated.
