Maternity wards: new guidelines for visitors and patients

VISITORS will once again be able to attend maternity wards across Tayside as of today.

However, the health board is urging people to pay attention to the following guidelines:

Pregnant women may identify one designated visitor to accompany them to scans and antenatal appointments.

Pregnant women may identify one birth partner and one additional designated visitor to accompany them in labour.

Pregnant women may identify one designated visitor, in addition to their birth partner, to visit them on the postnatal ward.

Patients should identify one person to be their designated visitor for the duration of their pregnancy journey and hospital stay.

Rules for visiting:

All hospital visitors must wear a face covering when accompanying a pregnant woman.

Practice good hand hygiene and wash your hands before entering the hospital.

Do not attend if you have any symptoms of Covid-19.

Social distancing of two metres must be maintained as much as possible.

Children should not be brought to appointments or to visit.

Visiting on the postnatal maternity ward will be from 9am to 6pm.

Visitors may be asked to move to the ward day room or leave for a period of time if the midwife in charge assesses that there are too many visitors.

Patients are asked not to arrive for scans or appointments more than five minutes before their allocated time to reduce the number of people in waiting rooms.

If the waiting room is busy, people will be asked to return to the department at a given time.