Visiting our hospitals
Advice and guidance on visting our hospitals, including visiting times.
Last updated: 7 June 2022
Two visitors per patient will be allowed at any one time on adult wards between 11 am and 8 pm
Sometimes, visiting may be suspended on certain wards to limit the number of people coming in and out of wards. Our guidance on wearing masks also changes from time to time.
If you are asked to comply with guidelines when visiting our hospitals, we ask you to please respond politely and treat our staff with respect
Visiting adult wards (inpatients)
Do
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Two visitors can visit one patient at any one time between 11am and 8pm
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Visitors are not required to be the same person each day/time
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Visits no longer need to be booked in advance via ward staff
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Masks: guidance about the requirement to wear masks at our hospitals varies from time to time depending on the levels of COVID-19 infections in our community. Masks are available at all our entrances and exits. . Please respond politely to our staff if they ask you to wear a mask.
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We ask all visitors to sanitise their hands on entering and leaving the ward with alcohol hand sanitiser outside each ward and department.
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If you would like to request a longer visit for exceptional reasons or to provide personal care and support to a vulnerable patient, please speak to the nurse in charge of the ward.
Don’t
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Do not visit if you are displaying symptoms of COVID-19, other respiratory infection or illness
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Do not visit if you have tested positive for COVID in the last 10 days (unless you had a negative Lateral flow device test on day 5 and 6 of symptom onset/ from testing positive)
From time to time, individual wards or bays may be closed to visiting for infection prevention and control reasons. Please check with the ward staff, prior to visiting, when you call to book a visit.
Advice for accompanying people into hospital
- Patients may be accompanied to assist a patient particularly for their communication and/or to meet their health, emotional, religious, or spiritual care needs
- If you are planning to collect a patient leaving the hospital, please contact the ward for instructions on where to meet them.
Changing or cancelling your appointment
If you need to cancel or change your appointment for any reason, please let us know as soon as possible. If you do not turn up for your appointment you will not automatically be offered another appointment.
To cancel or change your appointment, please call the number on your appointment letter; if you cannot get hold of anyone by calling the number included in your appointment letter, please Contact Us
Children and neonatal intensive care
As previously, visiting is restricted to parents, carers, or guardians only and must be household members.
- Only 2 visitors are allowed per child at any one time. This should be the same 2 visitors on each occasion
- Please discuss siblings visiting with the nurse in charge
- Only 2 visitors are permitted on the neonatal ward at any one time, this should be parents or guardians only; if parents, both can visit at the same time
Maternity
See our maternity section for details about maternity visiting
Attending our hospitals (including Emergency Departments)
- Patients may be accompanied where appropriate and necessary to assist their communication and/or to meet their health, emotional, religious or spiritual care needs.
- One parent or guardian may accompany a person under the age of 16 to the Emergency Department, Minor Injury and Illness Units, or to an Outpatients appointment.
Special circumstances
If you would like to request a visit for exceptional reasons or to provide personal care and support to a vulnerable patient, please speak to the nurse in charge of the ward.
You may accompany adults that require support to our hospital if you are:
- their carer or they have particular support needs
People who are allowed to have an adult accompany or visit them for longer than one hour in our hospitals include:
- patients under the age of 16
- people with dementia, delirium or a cognitive impairment
- people with mental health needs
- people with autism or learning disabilities
- people with impaired mobility
Extended visiting may also be possible for patients receiving bad news, and for patients who are critically ill or dying, as long as:
- you and members of your household do not have symptoms of coronavirus, like a fever or cough
- you have not been told to self-isolate or shield for health reasons
Virtual Visiting - iPads
Patients and carers may wish to take advantage of staying in touch using virtual visiting via tablets.
Staying in touch by email
You can also email letters and photos to patients on our wards to:
ghn-tr.helplinesupport@nhs.net Please include the ward name, patient name, and date of birth.