Staff shortages due to sickness have forced the temporarily close Ward 7, the Stroke Unit, at Noble's Hospital.

However, the Department of Health says services will be unaffected, thanks to to reallocation of staff and resources during the relatively quiet Christmas period.

Hospital manager Barbara Scott says patients who have suffered a stroke will simply be admitted to a different ward.

Director of health strategy and performance Norman McGregor Edwards says clinical staff are as vulnerable to bugs as anybody else.

He says, when a member of staff is ill, management at the hospital cannot risk the further spread of infection through the building, given the vulnerable condition of many of the inpatients.

The department says the decision has been taken in the best interests of staff and patients, and shouldn't be interpreted as any sort of cut in services or budgets.