When’s visiting? Any time you like on the 24/7 ward
Families are allowed to see loved ones in hospital day or night
PATIENTS in a Scottish hospital ward are now allowed visitors at any time of the day or night.
The ground-breaking ‘open all hours’ policy means they now have total freedom to see friends or relatives whenever they want.
Those behind the project say patients are less isolated and suffer fewer falls and other hospitals are now piloting the idea.
Campaigners have welcomed the move by NHS Lanarkshire but they urged health chiefs to consult patients and families before rolling the idea out.
Senior charge nurse Carol Andrews, who introduced 24/7 visiting to Monklands Hospital, Airdrie, said: ‘Open all hours is our catchphrase. It has been hugely positive for patients and families and complaints have reduced. Communication between nursing staff and relatives is much better.’
Previously, visitors were allowed in the gastroenterology and general medical ward from 3pm-8pm but had to leave at teatime. Mrs Andrews said families now find it easier to speak to medical staff – and the ward is quieter. She added: ‘When I came to this ward I was conscious you opened the doors at a set time and there was a mass of people in the corridor.
‘Then my parents ended up in hospital and I became very aware of how difficult visiting was at a very vulnerable time in a family’s life.
‘So many of us work shift patterns now, and other commitments. It’s a stressful time for both relatives and for patients and it’s a very isolating time for patients because we take them out of their routine.
‘Part of what I hoped to introduce, for example, was for the gentleman whose daughter used to drop the kids at school and then pop in every morning with two rolls and the newspaper. Why couldn’t that happen while he was still in my ward?’
However, she acknowledged not everyone wants constant visitors.
Patients who want peace could be put in a ward with like-minded patients, while those with many visitors could have a single room.
Open visiting is being tested in some other wards in Monklands and the other two acute hospitals within NHS Lanarkshire – Wishaw General and Hairmyres in East Kilbride.
But Keith Robson, chief executive of Age Scotland, said: ‘Many older people who are in hospital have family who live far away or who have long working hours, so a new approach offering visits at any time is good news for these patients.
‘However, it is important the different needs of patients are taken into account if this policy is applied more widely in hospitals, and that patients and families are consulted.’
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: ‘ Flexible and extended visiting for families and friends is a welcome innovation and the feedback has been almost universally positive.’
‘There was a mass of people in the corridor’