Restricted visiting rules at Royal Derby to cut virus spread
NEW rules for visitors have been brought in at the Royal Derby Hospital to help limit the spread of the new Omicron variant among staff and patients.
Visitors have not been banned from the hospital but there will be only one visitor per patient and, ideally, that visitor must be from the same household.
Face coverings must continue to be worn and these are available at all entrances of both Derby and Burton hospitals, run by University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHBD).
The trust wants visitors to be double-vaccinated but, as a minimum, prior to arrival, they will be expected wherever possible to provide evidence of a negative lateral flow test that has been entered on to the NHS Covid-19 app.
Outpatients should attend alone unless it is essential that they have someone with them or have an accompanying carer.
Friends and relatives should wait in their vehicle if travelling by car.
Visiting for maternity and paediatric services remains unchanged, and exemptions for patients receiving end-of-life care or those with dementia and learning disabilities follows the current national guidance.
Cathy Winfield MBE, executive chief nurse, said: “Due to continued high levels of Covid-19 positive inpatients within our wards and Intensive Care Units across our hospitals, visiting needs to be managed carefully. People who are unwell in hospital are vulnerable and at a higher risk of Covid-19 than those who are well.
“We have been operating a compassionate visiting policy for some time now. We know that it’s important for our patients to see family and friends.
“But with these changes we are asking our communities to please work with us and consider if your visit is essential. All of which will help prevent the spread of infection.”
Anyone who does not comply with the visiting restrictions may be asked to leave, a spokesman for the hospital added.
The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust has issued the new visiting guidance following the increase in Covid-19
cases at the hospitals and in the community.
The trust has not declared a socalled critical incident, but expects to put a curb on elective care – non-emergency, Covid or cancer patients – in the next 10 days.
Chief executive Gavin Boyle said Royal Derby is now at OPEL (Operations Pressure Escalation Levels) 4 – the highest level of alert –meaning it is at serious risk of being “unable to deliver comprehensive care” and that patient safety could be compromised.
Queen’s Hospital has been at OPEL 3 for part of this week, while the trust had been at OPEL 2 before Christmas.
It comes as Burton Queen’s Hospital had 26 patients with Covid as of Tuesday, January 5. None of these patients are in ICU.
The number of patients at the Royal Derby has now hit 102, of which four are in intensive care.
Mr Boyle said it was an “extremely challenging time for the trust” due to rising levels of Covid inpatients, high demand in the emergency departments and efforts to clear the backlog in elective care, with many having waited more than a year.
He said staff absences were having to be covered at very short notice and that the trust had pulled on its pool of bank employees but said: “We don’t have the level of staff we would like.”
Mr Boyle said the clinical priority of patients on the waiting list will be thoroughly assessed in order to decide who is seen first.
Derbyshire NHS organisations discussed before Christmas that some patients have been on the waiting list so long their needs were now urgent and the continual pauses to elective care, having developed a colossal backlog, could not be sustained.
Mr Boyle said this “weighs heavily on our minds” and that there would be a widespread number of “difficult decisions” to be made throughout the next few weeks.
Asked about the level of staff Covid vaccination, Mr Boyle said the proportion of staff with first and second doses was in the mid 90% range, while booster uptake was around 80%.