Hospital Bans Flowers
Flowers are out at the Dorset County Hospital where bouquets are being banned from Monday. Any flowers delivered to the flagship hospital in Dorchester will be refused or relatives will be asked to take them away.
Director of nursing Alison Tong said the ban covers all wards. She said: “There is evidence to show that flowers in vases that are not effectively maintained can pose an infection risk, so it is for this reason that we have decided that flowers will no longer be accepted on our wards….
So says a September 5, 2007 report in the Dorset Echo.
The ban may or may not be informed by the study “On the wrong scent: banning fresh flowers from hospitals,” by H. Humphreys, Journal of Hospital Infection, vol. 62, no. 4, April 2006, pp. 527-8.