Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Hospitals welcome return of visitors
JUDITH TONNER
Patients at Monklands Hospital and others across Lanarkshire are now able to have visitors once again.
Health board officials say they are “delighted” that loved ones were welcomed back to wards for the first time in four months from Monday, following last week’s announcement by health secretary Jeane Freeman.
One named visitor is now able to see those in non-Covid wards where there are no confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus, and will need to book their 45-minute slot in advance with medics to ensure they can be accommodated while maintaining physical distancing.
The new rules, “reinstating a level of visiting for the majority of patients”, are described as being stage two of a fourstage approach by the health board.
Susan Friel, who is NHS Lanarkshire’s acute director of nursing, told the Advertiser: “We are delighted that our patients will once again be able to receive visits from loved ones.
“In line with relaxation of other measures coming out of lockdown, this will still look very different to before; to maintain the safety of our patients and staff, we will be asking people to work with us by supporting this staged approach.
“We will be asking patients or their next of kin to identify one designated visitor only in the first instance – this visitor will be given a leaflet on their first visit to the ward to assist them to know what to expect.”
Visitors will need to wear a mask throughout and use hand gel on entering the hospital and again before entering the ward, and will be asked to stay away if they are unwell for any reason.
Each visit is restricted to 45 minutes to accommodate all patients’ loved ones while maintaining physical distancing and not increasing the number of people in the ward too much at any one time.
Staff will provide an update for visitors at each patient’s bedside to prevent queuing at the nurses’ station, and loved ones will be asked to remain at the patient’s bedside for the duration of their visit, doing their best to maintain the twometre rule.
Visiting at Monklands and all of Lanarkshire’s hospitals was first restricted to very limited hours and then suspended entirely by health board officials in mid-March, ahead of the coronavirus lockdown, to reduce transmission and protect vulnerable people by limiting the numbers at hospitals.
Only essential visits were then allowed for four months, such as for patients receiving end- of- life care and those accompanying young children and new mums giving birth – but the wider ability to arrange visits then resumed on Monday.
Ms Friel added: “Stopping hospital visiting was absolutely necessary so that we could best protect our vulnerable patients and our staff during this unprecedented time.
“I don’t underestimate how hard it must be if you have a loved one in hospital, and how distressing it must have been not to be able to visit them.
“Thank you in advance for continuing to work with us – in taking these measures you will be helping us to keep both you, your loved one and our NHS staff safe.”