Patient visiting suspended

As our hospitals care for vulnerable patients and continue to be high-risk locations for COVID-19, our restrictions remain tighter than other locations.

All visiting is suspended, except in the special circumstances listed below.

However, if you should be self-isolating, i.e. staying at home because you have or may have coronavirus, you must not attend our hospitals as a visitor under any circumstances. 

Guidance on when to self-isolate is available on the NHS website.

• NHS self-isolation advice

If you are self-isolating, please use other ways of keeping in touch with your loved ones, such as phone and video calls or our "letters for loved ones" and "parcels for patients" initiatives.

• Letters for loved ones
• Parcels for patients

Special circumstances

Visits from all friends and relatives of patients are currently suspended on all our hospital sites, except in the following circumstances and with agreement from ward staff.

All visits must be agreed with the ward before visiting the hospital.

• Patients under 18 – two parents or guardians may visit, but only one of these visitors may be in the hospital at any one time (local rules apply for neonatal units)
• Patients at end of life – a maximum of four (two at any one time) close family members/other people important to a patient at the end of their life may visit during the last week of the patient's life
• Patients with dementia, a learning disability or autism – one person may visit to provide support if it is agreed with staff that this visitor not being present would cause the patient to be distressed
• Patients with with a mental health condition – one person may be permitted a pre-arranged, one-off visit if required to support the patient's well-being or decisions about their care, where the nurse in charge agrees it is in the patient's best interests
• Patients with specific communication needs – where appropriate and if no alternative is available, one person may be permitted to attend to support the patient with agreement from the nurse in charge
• Patients with spiritual care needs – please ask the ward to contact the Chaplaincy team to arrange support
• If, as part of the patient's care plan, a "do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation" (DNACPR) order is agreed, a visit should be arranged to discuss and support the patient
• A visit before surgery may be arranged if family are informed that the patient may not survive
• Children are not generally permitted to visit. However, consideration will be given to under-18s attending with appropriate support in exceptional circumstances

Specific restrictions apply to visiting maternity patients.

• Maternity restrictions

In our A&E departments:

• Anyone accompanying a patient to A&E will be asked to wait outside or go home. Please wait to hear from staff whether or not the patient will be admitted or discharged, as we understand you may wish to take your friend/relative home
• A parent can stay with a child up to the age of 18
• One person may accompany the patient in A&E if they meet the circumstances listed above
• In addition, if the patient has a mental health condition, learning disability or autism, and unit staff are escorting the patient, individuals should also be permitted and are not counted as a visitor

Please contact the ward or department in advance to discuss appropriate visiting arrangements.

Additional requirements for visitors

• The authorised visitor(s) for a patient must be the same person/people for each visit. Visitors may not swap, unless permitted by the circumstances outlined above
• If it is agreed that a visitor/carer can attend to support an inpatient on a site which has been declared free of coronavirus, specific procedures must be followed. Our staff will discuss these procedures with visitors when visiting arrangements are made
• On arrival to any ward or department, permitted visitors must immediately wash their hands and report to a senior sister or charge nurse
• Visitors must also wash their hands or use the hand gel when they leave wards
• Visitors must wear a face covering at all times within the hospital. If you are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), e.g. a surgical mask, staff will provide this for you
• If you are unable to wear a mask, staff will discuss alternative options with you, such as virtual visiting. Our wards have access to iPads/tablets to support this so you can still have contact with your relative

Thank you for your continued support with this difficult decision that will help us to better protect staff, visitors and patients from infection.