Aberdeen children's operations moved over 'unusual' infection

Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital remains open

Some operations at the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital have been moved or delayed after an "unusual infection" was detected in a small number of patients.

NHS Grampian confirmed the cases were not linked to Covid-19.

The health board said they could not reveal more about the infection without the risk of identifying patients.

The hospital will remain open with extra hygiene measures in place for "some weeks".

Changes to operating theatre schedules as a result of the infection have led to some procedures being moved to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, while others have been postponed.

Precautionary measures

A team is investigating whether there is a link to the hospital environmental and further samples have been taken.

An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: "It can take some weeks for results to be determined following sampling, so it is expected that these, highly precautionary measures will be in place for some time.

"Due to the small number of patients involved, and the unusual nature of the infections, we cannot confirm any details as to do so would risk patient identification."

She added: "We would stress again that the overall risk from these infections to the general population is low."

Children should still be taken to the hospital's emergency department for urgent care, and scheduled appointments would go ahead unless families were otherwise advised, she added.

People going into the hospital have been asked to wash their hands with water and soap then use an alcohol-based hand rub.