For children receiving care in low risk beds, two parent s /named family members who live in the same household/support bubble may visit, of which one may be resident.Movement of visitors around the Trust’s premises should be minimised – please go directly to the ward when you arrive and leave the hospital as soon as your visit ends.Essential visitors who support a patient with a specific need are additional to the named visitor, providing this can be safely facilitated.Where a patient has been identified to have specific needs, such as patients receiving end of life care or people living with a learning disability and/or autism, the number of visitors permitted and the length of time they may stay will be influenced by the assessed level of risk and the capacity of the environment to enable appropriate distancing measures.Adult patients who are receiving treatment in a critical care bed may have one named visitor from the patient’s household or support bubble on a weekly basis, arranged in advance with the care team.Any visiting is either by appointment or at the ward’s specified visiting times in order to minimise the number of visitors in a clinical area at any one time.low risk) and the patient wishes to receive a visitor. For low risk adult inpatient beds, one named visitor from the patient’s household or support bubble is permitted if the risk assessment indicates that this can be achieved safely (i.e.Visitors are required to comply with safety measures, including wearing a surgical face mask, distancing, handwashing and donning the appropriate PPE as identified by the clinical staff responsible for the patient’s care.Key principles and updates to the policy are set out below: These restrictions will also differ depending on the type of ward or unit, and whether a patient has been identified as having a specific need.

MFT’s updated visiting restrictions will continue to differ depending upon the level of risk associated with a patient’s pathway as set out by NHS guidance – low, medium or high. We recognise that maintaining contact with friends and family during a hospital admission is important to our patients and their loved ones, and so following the national easing of lockdown restrictions we have now updated our interim visiting policy again, effective from 16 th April 2021. Further updates have been made to this policy over the past year in line with national and local guidance and local levels of Covid-19 infection. The Trust implemented an Interim Visiting Policy in March 2020 in order to minimise the risk of transmission of Covid-19 by reducing the footfall in our hospital and community inpatient areas.

Virtual visit switchboard