November 3, 2020 3.17 pm This story is over 40 months old

Patient visits suspended at all Lincolnshire hospitals

There are a few exceptions
Boston Pilgrim Hospital and Lincoln County Hospital.
By Local Democracy Reporter

Patients at all United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust hospitals will not be allowed visitors from Thursday.

The change will come into effect from Thursday, November 5 when the whole country goes into a second coronavirus lockdown.

Wards will instead be offering families the chance to talk to their loved ones via Skype or FaceTime whenever possible, as well as using ULHT’s ‘Letter to a Loved One’ scheme.

There will be some exceptions for exceptional circumstances, including parents being allowed to visit children’s wards one at a time (so long as they don’t show symptoms), and partners being allowed to attend childbirth.

Other exceptions are partners attending 12 and 20 week antenatal scans and 36 week consultant maternity appointments, visiting end of life patients and visiting someone with a mental health condition or learning disability where the visit would be considered a therapeutic necessity.

This comes a week after visits were suspended at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, when an outbreak of COVID-19 cases caused three separate wards to close.

Director of nursing for ULHT, Dr Karen Dunderdale, said: “Restricting visiting is one of the measures we are taking to protect our patients and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and to limit the spread of this virus.

“We know that this decision will be upsetting for those who have loved ones in hospital, but we must prioritise the safety of our patients and staff at this time.

“We have put in place some exceptions and our ward teams will work with families to ensure access in these circumstances.

“We hope to be able to review these restrictions following the end of the national lockdown period.”

At the moment there are over 150 patients with coronavirus being treated in Greater Lincolnshire hospitals, 57 of which are at ULHT facilities.