Patients in Fife hospitals will again be able to receive two visitors each day from Tuesday 9th August 2022 as visiting restrictions are once again eased.
Hospital visiting has been limited to a single visitor since 29 June 22 to help reduce the instances of COVID being brought into hospitals, due to heightened prevalence of the virus in Fife’s communities.
With a reduction in the numbers of those with COVID-19 in Fife hospitals and the wider community, these restrictions are again being gradually relaxed.
From Tuesday 9th August 2022, patients in most areas of Fife hospitals will be allowed visits from two people at any given time. In areas where this cannot be accommodated due to 2-metre distancing requirements, patients will continue to be able to receive two visitors per day, with one visitor permitted at a time.
Essential visiting will continue to be facilitated in wards or areas where patients are being treated whilst positive for COVID-19. Essential visiting includes those who are visiting relatives receiving end of life care, or to support someone with a mental health issue, learning disability, autism, or dementia where not being present would cause the patient to be distressed.
All visitors should regularly apply hand sanitiser and must continue to wear a fluid-resistant surgical face mask, which are available at hospital entrances. Within our Children’s, Neonatal and Maternity wards, children visiting must be a sibling of the young person in hospital care.
Strict hygiene measures remain in place to limit the risk of the virus spreading within our hospitals. These include visitors being prevented from bringing presents such as flowers, food parcels or balloons into the hospital.
Importantly, visitors must not attend if they have recently had sickness or diarrhoea, or any cold and flu symptoms, regardless of whether they test negative for COVID-19.
Visitors are also strongly urged to test for COVID-19 before attending and home test kits remain free-of-charge to those visiting hospitals. Information on how to order such kits is available at: www.nhsfife.org/testing.
All visiting arrangements continue to be kept under regular review in line with COVID-19 infection rates and hospital capacity, with a view to moving to full person-centred visiting when safe to do so.
NHS Fife’s Director of Nursing, Janette Owens, said:
“With cases of COVID-19 again beginning to reduce, we are pleased to be able to ease visiting restrictions in our hospitals once again.
“We recognise how important visiting is to patients and their families, and throughout the pandemic we have been committed to making visiting as safe, open and accessible as possible, whilst at the same ensuring that we are not placing already vulnerable patients at greater risk of catching the virus.
“The virus hasn’t gone away, however, and visitors have an important role to play in helping us prevent the virus from being brought into our hospitals. This means
adhering to the hygiene measures in place in our hospitals, using fluid-resistant face masks and hand washing regularly.
“All of these actions help us limit the risk of vulnerable people catching COVID-19, and enables us to make visiting more accessible for everyone.”
