Latest Update: 28th July 2021 @ 14:20

The visiting restrictions set out below are now in place across our hospitals.

General principles for visiting

Wherever possible, patients attending appointments or receiving treatment are asked to attend alone to support social distancing.
In exceptional cases, where an adult is vulnerable or requires assistance, arrangements can be made for a further adult to accompany them. Please speak to the team or department providing the patient’s care if you feel they need to be accompanied while in hospital.
Compassionate visiting can be facilitated e.g. when a patient is at end of life, where it is considered safe to do so. This should be discussed/arranged with the relevant nurse in charge.
Arrangements for accompanying children are set out below.
If you are planning to visit a friend or relative, we would strongly encourage you to access free community COVID-19 testing. Around 1 in every in 3 people who have coronavirus do not realise as they have no symptoms, unless they get a test. Lateral flow tests are quick, easy to perform and now free to the public. This will help keep your loved one, hospital staff and other patients safe. Information is available at the NHS website or from your local pharmacy. Please note, our hospitals do not have access to these tests for visitors.
If you need information which is not covered here, or if you would like more detailed advice relating to a specific ward or department, please contact the relevant ward sister or charge nurse.

For easy read guides on Covid-19, including advice on handwashing, coronavirus testing and face coverings, please visit the Mencap website.

Ward visiting

One named visitor will be able to visit a relative or friend at Hull Royal Infirmary or Castle Hill Hospital by booking a slot of up to an hour with the ward sister or charge nurse.
The visitor must be the same person for the duration of the patient’s stay in hospital and cannot be swapped between different family members or friends to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.
N.B. A small number of services may not be able to offer visiting at the current time; patients/relatives will be advised if this is the case.

Emergency Department

Patients attending the Emergency Department must attend alone, with the exception of children who may be accompanied by one adult only (no siblings, please) and vulnerable adults who require assistance (please speak to a member of staff if this is the case).

Maternity, neonatal and paediatrics

Appointments and scans

• Women attending the Antenatal Day Unit are now able to bring one adult with them to the department.
• Women attending scans to check on the growth of their baby throughout their pregnancy can also bring their partner or another adult.
• Women attending appointments at the Antenatal Clinic can bring one adult to support them.
• Women attending community midwifery appointments should attend alone to allow for safe social distancing.

Antenatal, labour and postnatal care

• Women staying overnight as an antenatal inpatient on Maple Ward can pre-book four-hour visits for one named birth partner with their midwife involved in their care on the ward.
• Women admitted to the Fatima Allam Birth Centre and Labour Ward can be accompanied by one named birth partner on admission, who must remain in the birth room at all times until their partner is either discharged home or transferred to the postnatal ward.
• Women who need to stay in hospital after their babies are born can also pre-book a four-hour visit for their named birth partners in consultation with staff.
• Birth partners must not come to hospital if they are showing any symptoms of Covid-19 such as a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss or change to their sense of smell or taste. They should stay away from hospital if they have come into contact with anyone testing positive for the virus.
• Women must give the contact details of their named birth partners to ward staff in advance and these will be kept for one month following the discharge from hospital.

Neonatal care

• Parents with babies in Neonatal Intensive Care are both allowed to attend the unit at any time but are asked to, where possible, limit themselves to one at the cot-side as much as possible. They should wear hospital-provided masks and wash their hands regularly. All efforts are made to give parents the chance to be together with critically ill babies.#

Children’s wards

• One parent is allowed to stay with their child in our children’s wards on HRI’s 13th floor and/or on Acorn Ward in Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.
• Only one parent is allowed on the ward at a time per child, with exceptions made for the parents of critically ill children.

Important information for all visitors

All visitors must cover their mouths and noses with a mask, bandana, buff/snood or scarf as soon as they enter a hospital building. Please note people cannot come into any hospital building unless they are wearing a mask, even if they have a medical exemption, to ensure the protection of our patients and staff.
All visitors should wash their hands thoroughly when they walk into a ward, use hand sanitizer when they leave their relative’s bedside and wash their hands for at least 20 seconds as they leave the ward.
People should not visit any part of Hull Royal Infirmary or Castle Hill Hospital, including wards, diagnostic areas, clinics or outpatient departments, if they are:

• unwell, especially if they have a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or have experienced a loss of sense of smell or taste
• vulnerable as a result of their medication or a chronic illness

Please note that anyone admitted to hospital with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 will not receive visitors except in exceptional circumstances.
The restrictions currently in place will be kept under constant review.

Staying in touch if you can’t visit

There are a limited number of iPads that are available to the wards on a short-term loan basis for patient / relative communication. These devices use an App called “Jitsi Meet”, recommended by our IT Dept, to support communication between inpatients and relatives if they do not have access to their own equipment. The devices are managed by the Digital Nursing Team and can be loaned to inpatient areas on both trust sites when required. (If clinical areas need a device they can email the Digital Nurses on the global address list and they’ll pick up the request.)
Specific questions related to your relative or loved one should be directed to a senior member of staff on the relevant ward/unit in the first instance (see list of ward contact numbers below).

Ward Contact Numbers

Hull Royal Infirmary

Castle Hill Hospital