Visiting restrictions remain in place at Alder Hey

Visiting restrictions remain in place at Alder Hey

16th Oct 2020

We would like to remind all visitors that restrictions are still in place at Alder Hey.

In line with NHS guidance, as a hospital we will continue to ask our visitors and our staff to maintain a two-metre social distance until further notice, alongside other measures such as regularly washing hands and wearing a face mask or cover (see below).

As a healthcare provider with very poorly children and young people under our care, we want to do everything we can to reduce the risk of transmission, we would ask that you please support us by following our guidance during your visit.

Alder Hey's visitor restrictions of one visitor per patient also remains in place. The restrictions we currently have in place at Alder Hey are as follows:

• Patients are limited to one visitor at a time. This applies across all areas of the hospital, including the Emergency Department, inpatient wards and outpatients.
• One visitor chosen from two nominated adults – to be agreed with Ward Manager
• Where possible the same person to visit a patient throughout their hospital stay.
• Children e.g. brothers and sisters of a patient, are not allowed to visit.
• Unwell visitors or those with possible symptoms of COVID-19 must not attend the hospital.
• Any adult wanting to visit or bring a child to an apppointment, who has had contact with someone known to be COVID-19 positive should NOT do so for 14 days.
• Communal areas e.g. the kitchen area on wards, are restricted to two people at any one time. We also ask that parents/carers bring their own tea/coffee/mug. 
• All play areas are closed. However, our Play Specialists will continue to provide play acitivies on the wards.
• ALL visitors are required to wear cloth face coverings, except for under 5s and those exempt due to having a respiratory condition. Find out more here.

Please also note that Alder Hey is currently closed to anyone other than hospital staff, patients and parents/carers visiting their children.

Our security team will support our volunteer colleagues in greeting our staff, patients and visitors at all hospital entrances, to ensure that only they are accessing the building. We will also be ensuring that social distancing measures are in place outside the hospital to ensure safe queuing.

These measures have been brought in to reduce the movement of people who may potentially, unwittingly carry coronavirus into the hospital and therefore risk transmission to patients, other visitors and members of staff.

We understand they may cause upset and worry challenges to our patients and families and to support them we have launched a new service which will allow family members to contact patients via a computer tablet (compatible with Skype) to allow live or recorded messages to be delivered. For more information email covidinfo@alderhey.nhs.uk.

Virtual Visiting at Alder Hey

We know and understand that these visiting restrictions may prevent the amount of contact you have with your child. As a result, we have launched a Family Support Messaging Service to allow our children and young people to keep in touch with families.

The Service will see a team of Alder Hey staff and volunteers on hand to deliver computer tablets compatible with Skype to allow for recorded or live video calling between our patients and families in order to maintain that essential face-to-face contact.

Family members will simply need to download Skype on their own personal device and book a time slot by contacting covidinfo@alderhey.nhs.uk or 0151 282 4907. Once a time is allocated, guidelines for Skype and a unique reference number will be generated and sent to the family members one hour before the call.

Our service will also give families the opportunity to send text or recorded voice messages via email to loved ones 24 hours a day. Please email covidinfo@alderhey.nhs.uk quoting your family members name alongside your message. Please be aware that all messages will be delivered after 2:30pm and any messages received after this time will be delivered the following afternoon.

For adult patients in ICU, we have a Family Liaison Team in place made up of expert, experienced professionals who are helping families to understand what is happening with their loved ones and facilitating communication and sharing of information as appropriate and as required at this difficult time.

We appreciate that this is an incredibly difficult time for everyone and that restricting our visitors will create challenges for our families. However, we believe that these measures are necessary to reduce the risk to our patients, families and our staff.