Our COVID restrictions

Important information to keep you safe from COVID when attending the hospital for your appointment

This guidance is provided for your safety and the safety of our patients, visitors and staff at Northampton General Hospital. We would ask you to please follow this guidance to protect and respect.

• Wear a mask in clinical areas
• Wash or gel your hands regularly
• Reschedule your appointment if you have any symptoms of COVID

By following these five simple steps you can stop the spread of COVID and save lives.

 

Updated 06.10.2022

Face coverings: our mask wearing guidance has changed as of Thursday 6 October 2022.

From Thursday 6 October we will be making it mandatory for all visitors to adult inpatient wards and clinical areas to wear facemasks and we will be restricting visiting to one visitor for one hour per day. 

Unless visitors are medically exempt, we will ask that visitors to clinical areas wear a mask to stop the spread of COVID and keep our patients and colleagues safe. 

This decision has been made as we have seen an increase in COVID cases at both hospitals in the last week and we are also seeing an increase in cases locally and regionally.  

To support visitors with this requirement face masks will be available on site and our team may ask you to put one on. Please support them as they work to keep everyone safe and be kind to them. 

We are also reminding our visitors to please not come to the hospital site if they have any symptoms of COVID, coughs colds, vomiting or diarrhoea. If visitors do come to the hospitals with any symptoms, they will be asked to leave. We would also ask that anyone who has tested positive for COVID does not visit the hospital unless they need urgent medical care. We know that it’s hard to not see loved ones, however video calls are still available at both sites. Please see further details on the hospital’s website. 

We would also encourage our patients to wear masks when visiting the hospital for appointments and when staying with us on a ward. 

We are working really hard to be able to allow visiting to continue. At the current time other visiting restrictions will not change, and we would ask for the local community to support us once again in doing what they can to protect patients and colleagues.

Visitors to all areas must:

• Complete a welfare check of symptoms on arrival
• Visitors must clean their hands
• Not attend the hospital to visit if they have any symptoms of COVID or test positive

Visiting on adult wards:

• Will be restricting visiting to one visitor for one hour per day, during either 2-4 or 6-8pm in our green COVID negative zones.

Visiting to Critical Care and Talbot Butler:

• Visiting may still need to be pre-booked with the ward and will be at the ward managers discretion.
  
  
• Visitors may be asked to complete a lateral flow test before coming onto the ward. This will be supplied by the hospital.

Visiting on paediatric wards:

• One resident parent may stay with their child for the duration of their stay. This visitor will be offered lateral flow testing on day 1, 3 and 5 of the stay which will be provided by the ward. Parents or guardians may swap once during the child's stay.
  
  
• A consistent second parent or guardian may also visit for 2 hours per day subject to admission screen. This visitor will be asked to complete a symptom checker prior to visiting. This will be provided by the ward.
  
  
• A second parent or guardian may also visit for 2 hours per day. This visitor may be asked to complete a lateral flow test prior to visiting. This will be provided by the ward.  Sibling visiting will continue to be reviewed regularly.

 

Visiting on our neonatal ward:

• Two parents or guardians are able to visit any time on the neonatal ward.
  
  
• The parents or guardians will be asked to complete lateral flow testing twice weekly. These will be provided by the ward.
  
  
• Grandparents and siblings over 12 may visit during a pre-booked time slot following a negative lateral flow test.

 

Visiting on maternity wards:

• Women and birthing people will still be asked to complete a test on arrival.
  
  
• Birth partners are able to visit the post-natal wards. Please contact the ward on the day for times and visiting guidance.

 

Visiting to antenatal appointments and ultrasound scans:

• Visitors will no longer need to show a negative lateral flow test.
  
  
• One birth partner will be able to visit during appointments.
  
  
• Visitors must social distance

 

Outpatient visiting:

• Where possible patients should not bring a visitor with them to an outpatient appointment.
  
  
• Visiting will be permitted for those who need additional support from a visitor during their visit.
  
  
• Visitors may be asked to wait in another area depending on social distancing.
  
  

Emergency Department visiting:

• Where possible patients should not bring a visitor with them to the Emergency Department.
  
  
• Visiting will be permitted for those who need additional support from a visitor during their visit.
  
  
• Visitors will be required to wear a mask and may be asked to wait outside or in another area depending on social distancing. If the department is busy we may not be able to facilitate visiting.

Supporting our patients and their loved ones: When patients come into hospital or change between wards and departments, our team will make sure they consider reasonable adjustments for those patients who have additional needs such as dementia, learning disabilities or autism. 

• We have visiting restrictions in place, however wards and departments should always be reviewing patients and supporting any of those with additional needs ensuring reasonable adjustments are in place as required. Wards and departments have the flexibility to support patients and their carers as defined in the visiting policy and carers policy.
  
  
• These adjustments should be reviewed on an individual basis based on the needs of the patient at the time. If you have any concerns please speak to the ward or department manager.

If visitors have lateral flow tests available, we would always advise people to complete testing for their own safety and the safety of others.

 

The guidance may change at any time depending on our local COVID-19 situation and hospital response.

 

Appointments via telephone or video call

We will continue to provide as many services as possible either virtually (through video and telephone contact), or off site.

If you are suitable for a virtual appointment you will be contacted to arrange a virtual option.

Our overriding priority will be to minimise the risk of cross infection in whatever we do, from people who have COVID to those who do not. To do this we must continue with many of the arrangements that are already in place in response to COVID, gradually increasing the number of patients we treat whilst keeping the number of patients and visitors to NGH to a minimum.

• We are developing COVID and non-COVID care pathways within the hospital, including designated wards for patients with coronavirus.
• We will continue to maintain our ‘surge’ capacity so that we are best placed to deal with any future increase in COVID admissions.