ABOUT of vomiting and sickness has forced a hospital ward to be closed to visitors.

Boxley Ward at Maidstone Hospital, which deals with elderly and stroke patients, was closed to visitors and new admissions today after 16 patients developed vomiting and diarrhoea symptoms overnight.

A spokesman for the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said: “Tests are currently being carried out, but it is thought the patients have a form of gastroenteritis, which normally passes within 24 to 48 hours and is usually brought into hospital by staff or visitors.”

The ward closure was ordered as part of the trust’s new strict infection control procedures, brought in as a result of the recent Clostridium difficile outbreak.

Relatives were contacted on Wednesday morning and asked not to visit the ward if possible to help contain the infection.

The spokesman added that relatives feeling unwell should not visit patients as a general rule because they risk spreading their illness to patients.