Visiting slots of up to one hour must be booked in advance with the ward sister or charge nurse and the visitor must be the same person for the duration of the patient’s stay in hospital. The named visitor must also carry out a lateral flow test to prevent people with the virus coming to hospital and spreading the potentially deadly virus to already sick and injured patients.

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

Patients with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cannot have visitors unless in exceptional circumstances.

Restrictions remain for oncology wards in the Queen’s Centre and in some surgical wards because these patients are at much higher risk of becoming gravely ill if they catch Covid-19.

Anyone coming to hospital for any reason must also wear a face mask as soon as they enter any hospital building although the requirement to wear a face mask on hospital grounds has been lifted. 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 also follow the two-metre social distancing rule on hospital grounds and in our buildings.

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 showing any symptoms of Covid-19 or are unwell for any other reason.

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

Guidance for attendance at outpatient departments

If able, please attend for your appointment on your own and as near to your appointment time as possible. If you absolutely have to bring someone with you (for example, patients with learning disabilities, advanced dementia or other physical disabilities) please limit it to one person.
Alternative arrangements are in place for Maternity, Neonatal and Paediatrics services.

All patients and visitors to outpatient departments are expected to comply with face masks and handwashing.

NB. Reasonable adjustments will be made to accommodate the needs of the patient on a case by case discussion, please discuss with the Sister/Charge Nurse for the department. Where a patient requires translation services please refer to the trust guidance on this.

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Guidance for communication with wards

The guidance and information regarding how to contact the ward will be displayed in all areas and communicated through social media. Where possible an identified staff member will be responsible for communicating with the named contact on a regular basis to keep them updated with regard to the condition of their loved one.

In exceptional circumstances, for example where patients are requiring family support due to advanced dementia, learning disabilities, critically ill or at the end of their lives, compassionate visiting will be permitted on a named basis only but this must be agreed with the Nurse in Charge and where possible, a visiting time booked in advance. Relatives must leave their name and contact number so we can allow entry to expected visitors only and also enable contact for Track and Trace purposes if required.

Alternative arrangements are in place for Maternity, Neonatal and Paediatrics services.

Where exceptional circumstances are agreed for relatives to visit, we request that all named visitors undertake a lateral flow test on the same day of the planned visit, to ensure we are protecting patients as much as possible. Visitors must be free of COVID symptoms and may be asked to provide evidence of the negative lateral flow test on arrival at the hospital. Lateral flow tests cannot be provided by HUTH but may be obtained free of charge from local pharmacies or from the government website. Visitors will also be expected to wash their hands on arrival and when leaving the ward and wear a face covering.

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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 can bring one adult to support them.

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/carer 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.
• A second parent or carer can now swap with that person (the ‘resident carer’) up to twice daily to allow for respite etc.
• Both parents/carers can visit their child at the same time for a maximum of one hour per day, and a time slot for this must be pre-booked with the ward.

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Ward Contact Numbers

Hull Royal Infirmary

Castle Hill Hospital

This information was last reviewed on: 28 April 2022