FLOWERS have been banned from some hospital wards in the region after bosses ruled them a health hazard.

Health chiefs on Teesside say the traditional gift of blooms for patients could be dangerous because of the bugs living in vase water.

Flowers have now been banned from critical care and joint replacement wards at the university hospitals of North Tees, in Stockton, and Hartlepool.

They are also outlawed at the high-dependency units at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, and the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

Research carried out in the US by the school of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has discovered that bugs found in samples of vase water in hospitals were indigenous to the flowers - not the hospital surroundings.

Staphylococcus aureus is one such bug that thrives in water.

If the bug comes into contact with an opening in the skin, it can lead to wound infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and infection of the blood.

A spokeswoman for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust said: "People are asked in areas such as critical care and areas, where we have very seriously ill patients, not to bring in flowers. It is for infection control and there is some evidence to suggest there is a link with flowers.

"People want to be cheered up in hospital, but it is not always a good idea to bring flowers. There are other things people can bring in, such as magazines and toiletries."

She added: "These things are regularly under discussion by the matrons, staff and our colleagues in infection control.

"These decisions are taken for the best interests of the patients."

Saadia Usmani is national spokeswoman for the Women's Royal Voluntary Service, which delivers and sells flowers from shops in 300 hospitals across the UK.

She told The Northern Echo: "If this is to do with patients and their health, we in the WRVS have to stand by the decisions of the hospital trusts.

"Our primary concern is with the patients.

"If there was a blanket ban, we would be extremely disappointed."

Photographer Dirk van der Werff was upset when he was stopped from taking a bouquet to a heart patient at the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

He said: "People expect flowers when they are in hospital and people expect to be able to take flowers into hospitals - not to be told, we are not allowing it because it's dangerous."