Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Use of face coverings when coming to hospital
From Monday 15 June, anyone coming to one of our hospitals will
need to wear a face covering at all times.
This guidance has been introduced by the Department of Health and
Social Care to help reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and
keep patients, visitors, and staff safe. Further information and guidance can be found
here.
Visitor Guidance
UPDATE: New national guidance on visiting patients in hospital
was published on Friday 5 June 2020. We have updated our visiting
policies from Monday 22 June 2020 in line with these new guidelines
while ensuring we continue to maintain the safety of our patients,
visitors and staff.
We will continue to keep this guidance under careful review.
Thank you for your help and support in complying with this guidance
to minimise the risk of infection to yourself, your loved one and
our staff.
Important information for all visitors
- All visitors must wear masks or face coverings at all time
- If you are in attendance to support the needs of a patient as
a familiar carer/supporter/personal assistant you will not be
counted as an additional visitor
- You must not visit under any circumstances if you have a new
persistent cough, high temperature or have a loss/change in your
normal sense of smell or taste
- For more information and guidance on coronavirus, please
visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus
Adult Inpatients
The number of visitors to adult inpatients at University
Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust is limited to one
named close family contact or friend.
Ward staff will agree the named visitor with new patients on
admission and current patients, or their next of kin, if the
patient is unable to identify a visitor themselves.
Before the first visit to an adult inpatient ward, a letter
which includes the name of the patient's agreed visitor will be
left by a member of the ward team with staff at the main reception
desk of the hospital where the patient is being cared for (Bristol
Royal Infirmary, Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol Haematology and
Oncology Centre, Weston General Hospital, Bristol Eye Hospital and
South Bristol Community Hospital) to be collected by the named
visitor. This letter will need to be presented at the hospital
entrances for all subsequent visits and will be checked by the
security teams. Anyone not carrying a letter will be politely
informed that they are not permitted to visit.
A single visit per adult inpatient is permitted a day by their
nominated family member or friend.
This single visit per day can be between 15 minutes and up to a
maximum of 2 hours depending on the patient's condition.
Visiting is allowed between the hours of 11:00-19:00.
You may be asked to agree a visiting time slot with the ward
team; this is to ensure there are only a limited number of visitors
on the ward at any one time.
In discussion with the ward team, where it is possible to
maintain social distancing throughout the visit, a second
additional visitor could be permitted in very specific
circumstances, as detailed below:
- where the visitor is supporting someone with dementia, a
learning disability, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or a diagnosed
mental health condition, where not being present would cause the
patient to be distressed
- when the patient is receiving end-of-life care.
Bristol Royal Hospital for Children
Visitors to our children's wards are restricted to one
immediate family member or carer on the ward at anyone time. A
maximum of two family members or carers can be named as visitors,
but only one will be allowed on the ward at any one time.
We ask that siblings do not visit our children's
wards.
Outpatient appointments
Adult outpatients should attend alone unless the patient needs
mobility support, or has dementia, a learning disability, autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) or a diagnosed mental health condition,
where not having someone else present would cause the patient to be
distressed.
Children can be accompanied by one parent or carer.
Unless we have contacted you to cancel or change your
appointment, please attend as planned.
Some outpatient clinics may switch from face-to-face to
telephone or video conferencing. If this is suitable for your
appointment you will be contacted. Please note that telephone calls
may appear on your phone as an 'unknown' number: please answer as
this could be a member of staff trying to reach you.
Bristol Royal Infirmary and Weston General Hospital emergency
departments
Those coming to our emergency departments at the Bristol Royal
Infirmary and Weston General Hospital are asked to attend alone,
with a very small number of exceptions at the discretion of the
nurse in charge or a consultant. Exceptions will be made for:
- 16/17 year old patients attending
- vulnerable patients
- end-of-life patients
- patients who have dementia, a learning disability, autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) or a diagnosed mental health condition,
where not having someone else present would cause the patient to be
distressed
- patients who need mobility support.
Where a visitor has been permitted, it will be limited to one
person to accompany the patient, and they must have no COVID-19
symptoms.
Bristol Royal Hospital for Children emergency department
Those coming into our children's emergency department can
be accompanied by a maximum of one family member,
friend or carer. Those accompanying a child into the department
must have no COVID-19 symptoms.
Maternity services
If you are having your baby at St Michael's Hospital,
please view the current guidance for maternity
services.
Staying in touch with your loved ones
Understandably, there has been an increase in calls to our wards
as we put these visiting restrictions in place.
In order to get an update on your loved ones, please consider
calling their personal mobile phones and devices to stay in touch,
rather than call our wards directly. Free Wifi is available to
everyone in our hospitals so that patients can make phone or
video calls to their family and friends using apps including
Facetime, WhatsApp or Skype and mobile reception is available
across our site.
If you do need to call the ward for an update, please coordinate
as a family so that only one person calls to avoid long wait times
on ward phones.
Diabetes services during the coronavirus outbreak
The Sirona care & Health website has details of
services for people with diabetes, including how to contact the
diabetes community services for advice and guidance. The site also
contains resources with advice and guidance for
dealing with diabetes during the coronavirus outbreak.
Diabetes UK are also urging parents not to let coronavirus fears
stop them from seeking medical help if they're worried their child
is showing the signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes.
Read their news story to find out more.
Share your experiences of our services during COVID-19
We want to hear your experiences of our services during
COVID-19. We hope your experience has continued to be a positive
one, but if you have ideas about how we could do things better,
please let us know by completing this short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VWQW25M
Thank you for helping us keep our patients,
staff and community safe.
Updated: 22/06/20
