Our visiting policy changed on 8 January 2021
Since the beginning of the pandemic we have only been able to allow one parent or carer to be with a child in our hospital at a time to make sure we can do our best to stay safe by keeping apart. However, due to the current situation our visiting policy has changed.
Only one parent or carer is allowed to be with a child in our hospital. Each child will have a named parent or carer on our system and we will only allow the parent/carer on this list to enter our hospital.
This one named parent/carer can change once a week, on a Friday. This must be updated on our system before the changeover takes place. This is up to a maximum of two named parents or carers. If the parent/carer is changing, you must swap over outside the hospital.
Although this decision is in line with other children’s hospitals, it has not been an easy one to make. We understand this will cause some disruption and also distress, particularly for those of you with children who are with us for long time.
However, the level of COVID-19 infection outside of the hospital is at such a high level that we believe this is something we must do now. We must reduce the number of people in the hospital at any one time and the number of people in any one area in our hospital. This helps us to make sure we can continue to keep your child, your family, and our staff safe by keeping apart. The more people we have on a ward at once, or in the hospital, the more difficult it will be for us all to keep apart as there will be less space. This increases the risk of infection spreading between us.
We believe it is really important that we are fair and consistent with all our families, but there will be some very rare exceptions to this new visiting policy. We have a process in place to allow these exceptions which we oversee directly to ensure consistency. We do need to stress that there will be very few exceptions.
We are asking families to support us to do as much as we can to protect everyone at this very difficult time. Our visitor policy has been created with medical experts to make sure we are doing the best we can. We will review this decision weekly to make sure it is in place for the absolute minimum amount of time. However it is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
Keeping your child safe is our top priority, and we thank families for their patience, support and cooperation as we continue to prevent the risk of COVID-19 together.
Visiting our hospital and community centres
We have developed a leaflet to help prevent the spread of infection (PDF 593Kb). Wording from this leaflet is also available below.
Our visiting policy during Coronavirus (also known as COVID-19)
This leaflet explains what is expected of parents/carers during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
Following these guidelines will help us minimise risk of infection to you, your child and our staff.
- We are currently restricting visitors to the hospital and our community sites.
- For appointments, only one parent or carer should accompany a child.
- For overnight stays, only one parent or carer may visit.
- Brothers, sisters, and other family members and friends will not be allowed to visit. We ask that they do not come to the hospital or community site. This will help us to minimise the number of people onsite, to keep you and your family safe. Any changes to visiting for an individual family, is assessed on a case-by-case basis and will only change in exceptional circumstances. Thank you for your cooperation and for helping to keep our hospital safe.
Before visiting
- If you are in a high risk group for COVID-19 please do not visit the hospital. Call the nursing staff.
- If have confirmed COVID-19 or have been asked to self-isolate do not visit the hospital.
- If you become unwell, phone the ward and do not visit the hospital.
- Please follow NHS guidance and self-isolate if you have any COVID-19 symptoms (new onset persistent cough, fever or loss of sense of smell/taste) and book an appointment for a test locally.
While visiting
- Please keep your child’s room or bed area tidy and free from clutter to help us to thoroughly clean the area.
- Make sure you answer the daily screening questions about your health.
- Restrict your movement on the ward and limit the number of times you enter and exit.
- Keep a two metre distance between you and others, as much as possible.
- When you enter the hospital you will be given a facemask to be worn at all times. You must change your facemask and wash your hands every time you leave and enter the hospital. If you need to change your facemask, please ask the nurse looking after your child to show you where the masks are kept or you can take a fresh mask from the personal protective equipment (PPE) trolley at the entrance of each ward.
- Do not touch the outside of the mask, and clean your hands frequently.
- If your child has suspected or confirmed COVID-19, you will be expected to wear PPE as directed by the nursing staff.
When to wash your hands
- Clean your hands when you enter the ward, before caring for your child, and if you remove or change any PPE you have been asked to wear.
- Wash your hands before meals or feeding your child, after visiting the toilet, and after changing your child’s nappy or helping them use the toilet or bed pan.
- You can clean your hands with the hand sanitiser or wash your hands using soap and water.