Harrogate Hospital relaxes visiting restrictions on maternity ward

Harrogate residents urged to stick to social distancing rules as good weather set to draw crowds

But safety measures are still in place and the Trust is urging any visitors who may be feeling ill to stay at home to limit the spread of Covid-19.

In a statement issued this week, the Trust said: "We are very pleased to be able to start welcoming visitors back. We appreciate how hard it has been to keep in touch with loved ones who are in hospital with these restrictions in place. We’d like to thank you for your support and understanding during this difficult time.

"The health, safety and wellbeing of our patients, communities, individuals and teams remain our absolute priority, and with that in mind, we will begin to introduce visiting to our department in phases and will continue to review our policy."

Visitors are being asked to respect the national Government guidelines on social distancing and to stay at home if they have any of the symptoms of coronavirus in a bid to 'protect the most vulnerable people in our communities and our NHS.'

Anyone with the following symptoms is being asked to stay at home:

- High temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)

- New, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

- Loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.

The Trust added: "The two metre social distancing rule should be adhered to throughout the hospital wherever possible. Please may we ask that you adhere to this during your visit, including all communal areas and lifts. You may witness that this is not possible for staff when caring for patients."

Those who are pregnant are being asked to telephone the maternity assessment facility before attending and to attend alone unless advised otherwise by the midwife during the consultation.

Delivery Suite

One birthing partner can stay during labour and delivery up until discharge/transfer from delivery suite. The swapping of birthing partners is not permitted. If a named birth partner develops symptoms of Covid-19 then a different birth partner who is symptom free and in a position to self-isolate for 14 days can be brought in.

Pannal Ward

Birth partners will be allocated a time during the day to visit for up to one hour which will be between either 11am-12pm or 3pm-4pm. A visiting slot will not be given for anyone due to be discharged that day.

Induction of labour

One birth partner can attend for the first two hours at the commencement of induction of labour. Following this the same birthing partner can attend for up to one hour once a day on subsequent days.

Antenatal inpatient admissions

One birth partner can attend for up to one hour once a day.

Postnatal care admissions

One birth partner can attend for up to one hour once a day.

At present no children will be permitted access to the ward area.

At all outpatient appointments, including ultrasounds, patients are expected to attend alone unless otherwise arranged with a medical professional.

Patients and visitors are also being reminded that masks are now mandatory at all times when inside the hospital and are available at the entrace. Regular hand sanitising is also required.

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