Coronavirus: updated guidance on visiting our hospice

In light of the third nationwide lockdown and due to rapidly rising COVID-19 infection rates, we are continuing to restrict the number of visitors each patient can have at any one time. These restrictions are part of our ongoing commitment to protect our patients, their relatives, staff, volunteers and the wider community from COVID-19, while at the same time allowing our patients to spend precious time with their loved ones.

The Inpatient Unit will be limited to one named visitor per patient (unless the patient has a dependent child). Children will be asked to enter and leave the hospice via patio doors directly into their parent’s bedroom to reduce the risk of infection. We are unable to allow more named visitors than this as the risk increases significantly, for our patients, their visitors and for our own staff and volunteers. The hospice remains open for visitors 24 hours a day. To keep the risk of spread of infection to a minimum, all visitors will be temperature checked on arrival at main reception. Anyone with a high temperature signifying illness will not be able to enter the hospice. We are continuing to ask all visitors to the Inpatient Unit to wear their own face mask, which they should bring with them and put on, either before entering, or while in reception and before entering the IPU corridor.