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5:23 PM 17th March 2020
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Restrictions On Hospital Visiting At Bradford Teaching Hospitals

 
As part of the NHS’ response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) to protect patients, staff, volunteers and visitors, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has introduced new rules about the number of visitors who can enter its wards to visit an in-patient.

This applies to all visitors and all wards at Bradford Royal Infirmary, St Luke’s Hospital, Westbourne Green and Westwood Park community hospitals.

Chief Executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals, Mel Pickup, said: “We do understand that these new rules may be hard to follow, and we know that many people want to attend hospital with other friends and family to show their respects, to pray and to offer their support.

“However, coronavirus is a serious infectious disease and we must do everything we can to slow the spread of the disease. This means reducing the number of people who gather in hospital. We will do our best to help anyone who wishes to communicate via an alternative method such as using their mobile phone/face time.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their support and understanding, and for helping to keep our hospital environment as safe as possible for all our patients, visitors and staff during this period.”

The hospital chaplaincy team will be available, on request, to support all faith, religious and spiritual requirements, including Christian and Muslim. In putting these arrangements in place the Trust has consulted community stakeholders including Bradford Council for Mosques and its advising scholar Mufti Zubair Butt.

The restrictions, which have taken immediate effect, are as below:

only ONE VISITOR PER BED will be allowed on the hospital wards.
once the visitor has completed their visit, other visitors will not be permitted to swap places. Instead, other family members or friends should arrange between them to make a separate visit at a different time.
no children (anyone under the age of 18) are allowed to visit on the wards.
family, friends and other well-wishers should not gather in the hospital, as this increases the risk of infection.
all visitors should follow good hygiene practice (wash their hands before and after visiting, use hand gels on the ward). Please do not visit if you have flu-like symptoms or coughs, colds or a high temperature.
there will be some areas of the hospital where patients are being kept in isolation, for their own wellbeing and to protect other patients and staff. For these patients we may not be able to allow any visitors at all, though we will try if at all possible to enable visiting.