We know how important it is for patients and visitors to see their loved ones and so we have eased the visiting restrictions at our hospitals.
We review our approach to visiting on a weekly basis and may be required to change the approach if we feel the safety of our staff and patients is at risk. Our approach to visiting will be reviewed in line with national guidance and according to local prevalence.
- Adult inpatients at Lister Hospital
- Children who are inpatients at Lister Hospital
- A patient who is being treated in critical care
- Maternity
- Emergency department (A&E) and outpatients
- Inpatients at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre
Visiting adult inpatients at Lister Hospital
To help us ensure social distancing on our wards, we ask that each patient has a maximum of two visitors at a time. Those visiting must:
- wear a face covering throughout their visit (unless they are children under the age of five years old or are medically exempt).
- not have any symptoms of Covid (a high temperature, a new continuous cough, a loss or change to sense of smell or taste or cold like symptoms).
Visitors will not need to complete a rapid lateral flow test before they visit.
You may be asked to wait outside the ward if there are a large number of visitors, this is to help us ensure we maintain social distancing.
You may also be asked to wait outside the ward if we are serving our patients their meals, please bear with us and we’ll allow you in to the ward as soon as we can.
Visiting children who are inpatients at Lister Hospital
For children staying on Bluebell Ward and in the Children’s Assessment Unit (CAU), we’re able to accommodate two parents or carers who can stay with their child on the ward – these must be the same individuals at all times. Siblings cannot attend and designated visitors cannot swap with anyone else. Unfortunately, we aren’t currently able to allow any other additional visitors, this is due to a high number of vulnerable children staying on the ward.
If you need to contact Bluebell Ward, please telephone 01438 284008.
Visiting a patient who is being treated in critical care
Visiting times for our critical care wards are from 11am-7pm (7 days a week) and each patient will be able to have two visitors, unless there are exceptional circumstances such as the patient is reaching the end of their life, the patient has learning difficulties or is under 18 years of age.
If you need to contact our critical care wards, please use the following telephone numbers depending on where your loved one is staying:
- Critical Care Central: 01438 284085
- Critical Care North: 01438 284325
- Critical Care South: 01438 285650
Maternity
Full details about our approach in our maternity department can be found in the maternity section of our website.
Emergency department (A&E) and outpatient appointments
Those visiting our emergency department at Lister, or attending one of our hospitals for an outpatient appointment, are able to have one other person accompany them. This is to ensure we can maintain social distancing within our hospitals.
Visiting inpatients at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre
Inpatients at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre can have 1 visitor at a time for 2 hours, between 2pm-8pm, 7 days a week.
All visitors will be screened for Covid when they arrive at the ward, they will be asked to sign an attendance log and must:
- wear a face covering throughout their visit (unless medically exempt).
- not have any symptoms of Covid (a high temperature, a new continuous cough, a loss or change to sense of smell or taste or cold like symptoms).
Visitors will no longer need to complete a rapid lateral flow test before they visit.
