We’ve recently had a lot of questions from our patients, their loved ones and our local community about visiting at QEH.
Currently, visiting restrictions remain in place, which means we offer a system of compassionate visiting for example those who are receiving end of life care or those with additional needs. Visiting restrictions of this kind were introduced early during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the spread of the virus, protecting our patients and staff.
We have, when transmission and admission rates were lower, eased these restrictions to allow more visiting to take place, as we know how vital this is for our patients and their loved ones, and this has often sat alongside a change in Government restrictions too.
However over the last few weeks, despite the ceasing of all Government restrictions, as a Trust, and in line with other NHS Trusts in the Norfolk and Waveney system, we have recently seen an increase in the number of patients being admitted to our Trust who have COVID-19. Currently, we have 120 patients with COVID-19 at the Trust, and we are broadly admitting between 10-15 new patients with COVID-19 a day. Unlike previous waves, thankfully many of these patients are not requiring intensive care treatment, but this increase has had a knock on impact on our Trust and the normal pressures we face.
This means in the best interests of our patients, the local community and our staff, to ensure everybody’s safety, we will not be relaxing our visiting restrictions any further at this time – in line with the other Trust’s across Norfolk and Waveney. In addition, we have also taken the difficult decision to cancel the in-person celebration of our staff awards, due to take place on Thursday, to reduce risks to our patients and staff. We will, along with the other Trusts in Norfolk and Waveney, be keeping this under regular review and make changes to the current restrictions as soon as it’s safe to do so.
We know this will be disappointing for many, but for now, we believe it is the safest option for everyone. We are continuing to offer contact for our patients and their loved ones via our smartphones and tablets and our Family Liaison Officers who are supporting our wards to ensure patient’s families and loved ones are easily able to contact our wards. You can contact our Family Liaison Officers on 07909 39792 or 07909 395415 seven days a week between 8.15am and 7.45pm.
We’d like to thank our patients, local community and staff for their ongoing support.
You can read about the full visiting restrictions in place here.
QEH Media Hub 