HOSPITAL wards remain closed after an outbreak of a winter vomiting bug stretched medical services to breaking point in Southampton - including a maternity ward.

The Daily Echo revealed that health bosses issued a black alert for Southampton hospitals last week because there were no empty beds across the trust.

This followed a major norovirus outbreak at Southampton General Hospital, which was already full after a huge increase in admissions.

A spokesman for the University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust said: “We currently have four wards temporarily closed to new admissions due to outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting, and bays closed on another five wards.”

One of the wards with bay closures is a maternity ward at the Princess Anne Hospital and all the others affected are at Southampton General Hospital.

Medical services are stretched thinly across the county, after South Central Ambulance Service revealed it attended 1,000 more call outs in the first two weeks of December than in the same period last year.