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More visitors allowed at our Trust from Monday
From Monday, 16 May, the majority of patients at West Suffolk Hospital, Newmarket Community Hospital and the Kings Suite at Glastonbury Court will be able to receive up to two visitors at the same time.
Visitors will be able to visit loved-ones between the hours of 2pm and 8pm in the majority of wards. This can be any two people and can change throughout the visiting time, but only two visitors at a patient’s bedside are permitted at any one time.
There are some exceptions to the new visiting changes. For example, if a patient is being nursed in a Covid-19 ward, they will be allowed one visitor for one hour at a time, twice a day. However this can be a different visitor on each occasion and they must telephone the ward ahead of their visit.
Some areas of the Trust have extended visiting and local arrangements to reflect the nature of the patient group and these include the intensive therapy unit (ITU), neonatal ward and maternity services. Visitors are again asked to telephone the ward their loved-one is staying on before to confirm arrangements ahead of time.
Executive chief operating officer at the Trust, Nicola Cottington said: “It’s great news we are now able to welcome back more than one visitor to the majority of our wards again. We know how much visiting means to both patients and their family and we appreciate how difficult it has been for everyone since the pandemic started.
“We hope this is welcome news to those who have friends and family in hospital and we want to extend a big thank you to everyone in the West Suffolk community for their continued support for our Trust throughout this very challenging time.
“We must continue to protect the most vulnerable in our community so we are asking anyone who plans to enter any of our sites to ensure they’re not showing any symptoms of Covid-19 or feeling unwell. This is essential to help prevent the spread of any infection.”
All visitors must wear a surgical face mask when on-site unless they are exempt. Surgical face masks are available free of charge at the entrances to our hospital sites.
For family and friends who are unable to visit in person, the clinical helpline remains open between 10am and 6pm to provide updates on patients. This can be accessed by telephoning 01284 713155.
Our Keeping in Touch service is also available to help loved-ones keep in contact with patients via a video call – to find out more information, please click here.
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