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.
To help us ensure social distancing on our wards, we ask that each patient has a maximum of 2 visitors at a time.
Those visiting must 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 are not required to wear a face covering unless they are visiting a patient who is based in an oncology (a department or ward in the hospital that treats cancer patients, such as the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre), haematology or renal setting or there are patients in the area you are visiting being treated for these conditions. Our staff and posters on the ward will advise you as to whether you should wear a face covering.
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.
Some areas of our hospitals have specific visiting times, you can find more details about these below:
For children staying on Bluebell Ward and in the Children’s Assessment Unit (CAU), we’re able to accommodate one parent or carer who can stay with their child on the ward overnight.
Parents, carers and siblings have open access to the ward but extended family and friends, including grandparents, should visit between 12noon and 6pm (7 days a week).
If you need to contact Bluebell Ward, please telephone 01438 284008.
Visiting times for our critical care wards are from 2pm – 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
Due to the nature of the patients who are being treated on our respiratory wards (11A and 11B) visiting times are from 2pm-4pm and 5.30pm-7pm (7 days a week).
If your loved one is suffering from an infectious illness, such as Covid or flu, we are only able to facilitate 1 visitor for a 1 hour visit and that visitor must ensure they are wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) during their visit.
If your loved one is not suffering from an infectious illness, we are able to facilitate 2 visitors per patient with a maximum visit time of 2 hours.
Visiting times for our acute cardiac unit are 2pm-4pm and then 6pm-8pm, 7 days a week.
Visiting times for Pirton (our stroke unit) are 1pm-5pm and 6pm-8pm, 7 days a week.
Visiting times for Ashwell (our elderly care ward) are 1pm-6pm, 7 days a week.
Visiting times for Swift (our theatre recovery ward) are 1pm-6pm, 7 days a week.
Full details about our approach in our maternity department can be found in the maternity section of our website.
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.
