By Changes to hospital visiting in wake of Covid-19 come into force today
A loosening of visiting restrictions for some wards – including maternity – at Grimsby and Scunthorpe hospitals comes into force today (Monday).
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) has previously allowed visiting in exceptional circumstances only.
From today, limited visiting will be allowed on C2 and B3 at Grimsby’s Diana Princess of Wales Hospital by appointment only between the hours of 2pm to 3pm and 6pm to 7pm.
Further wards at Scunthorpe will follow soon.
Ellie Monkhouse, Chief Nurse, said: “We know how difficult it has been for patients to not have visitors and for loved ones who have not been able to come and check on their family and friends.
“We have been constantly reviewing visiting arrangements on a weekly basis which has included feedback from staff, patients and some visitors, keeping in touch with our peers and national guidance. We now feel we are in a position to ease the restrictions slightly.
“Our priority remains the safety of our patients and staff and so there are a number of measures we have put in place to allow visiting to resume safely. Please respect these measures and bear with us while we adapt to these new arrangements.”
She added that if coronavirus cases increased or local lockdown measures were introduced, visiting could be reduced again.
Visiting for maternity services at Grimsby and Scunthorpe is being extended so partners will be able to visit women any time between 10am to 10pm whilst they are inpatients in the hospital and not just for the labour and delivery.
At this time this does not extend to other visitors and the Trust said it was not yet in a position to be able to open up visiting for partners at clinic appointments or scans due to social distancing requirements.
On Disney Ward at Scunthorpe and Rainforest Ward at Grimsby, both parents will now be able to be resident with their child during the day and one parent will be able to stay overnight.
On the Neonatal Intensive Care Units, both parents are now able to be resident with their baby throughout the day, with one parent being able to stay overnight.
Patients undergoing Chemotherapy for the first time will also be allowed to take a family or friend with them for support, if capacity on the unit allows.
Contact numbers for the wards are available on the Trust website at https://www.nlg.nhs.uk/patients/wards/
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