Latest Update: 8th March 2021 @ 10:15

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is easing some visiting restrictions from 8th March as rates of Covid-19 infection continue to fall.

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.

Visiting arrangements for children’s wards, Intensive Care Units and maternity services remain unchanged and people attending the trust’s Emergency Department must attend alone.

However, the restrictions currently in place will be kept under constant review.

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.

Despite the new arrangements, 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, a chronic illness or they are over 70 years of age

Anyone admitted to hospital with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 will not receive visitors except in exceptional circumstances.

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).

Additional information for neonatal, paediatric and maternity services

• One birth partner may attend the 20-week scan. This does not apply to other scans, e.g. growth scans.
• 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 staying overnight as an antenatal inpatient on Maple Ward can pre-book one-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 one-hour visit for their named birth partners in consultation with staff.
• 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.
• 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.
• One parent is allowed to stay with their child in our children’s wards on HRI’s 13^th floor and/or on Acorn Ward in Hull Women and Children’s Hospital. However, only one parent is allowed on the ward at a time, with exceptions made for the parents of critically ill children.

Ward Contact Numbers

Hull Royal Infirmary

Castle Hill Hospital