Visits to Liverpool’s main hospitals are set to be stopped in most cases due to rising Covid levels in the city.
Earlier this year, visits restarted at hospitals across Liverpool, with patients able to have a visitor for one hour.
However, Liverpool’s coronavirus rate now stands at more than 170 cases per 100,000 people, forcing the trust that runs the hospitals to take action.
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From today, visits to hospitals including the Royal, Broadgreen and Aintree will be limited mainly to patients receiving end of life care or those supporting a patient with a mental health issue who would otherwise be in distress.
Any other visits will only take place under exceptional circumstances and after a risk assessment.
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it would closely review the policy of suspending visits as the situation develops.
A statement issued with the new visiting guidance said: “We understand that patients, their families and friends may be upset at this decision, and that it is difficult to be separated from loved ones during these uncertain times.
“However, the health, safety and wellbeing of our patients, communities and staff across the organisation remain our absolute priority. Thank you for your continued support and understanding at this challenging time.
“We will review these arrangements on a regular basis as we want to reintroduce wider visiting as soon as it is safe and practical to do so.”
The exact examples given by the trust about the circumstances in which visits are allowed are:
- A maximum of two visitors for patients who are in their last hours / days and receiving end of life care.
- One carer that is supporting someone with a mental health issue, cognitive impairment such as dementia, a learning disability or autism, where not being present would cause the patient to be distressed.
- In exceptional cases, consideration will be given to individual requests following a comprehensive risk assessment.
