Visiting Guidance
We welcome visiting on our wards for the wellbeing of our patients. Please take a moment to read through the information below before visiting a friend or relative at our hospital.
Visiting times for most wards are 11am to 8pm, seven days a week.
Help us reduce the risk of infection: Please do not visit the hospital if you are unwell within the last 48 hours. This includes symptoms of COVID-19, sickness, diarrhoea, fever, sore throat, flu or norovirus. Please wash your hands with alcohol gel or with soap and warm water as you enter and leave the ward.
Work together with our staff: Please inform our staff of any additional needs your family member or friend may have and provide a ‘This is Me - My Care Passport’ if applicable. Please appoint a single family member or friend as a main contact for communication to help avoid duplication.
Co-ordinate your visit: We have a limited amount of space on our ward and around each patient’s bed and ask that there are only two visitors at any given time. Please speak to the nurse in charge if you would like to bring a child under the age of 12 to visit or visit outside of the suggested hours.
Meal times: We set aside time on the wards for meal times to create a quiet, relaxed atmosphere for patients. If you normally visit at mealtimes to help your relative or friend eat, we are happy for you to continue to do this. Please ask the nurse in charge how you can help.
Noise levels: Please be respectful of other patients and try to keep the noise levels low.
Flowers, plants and latex balloons are not allowed on wards for infection control and allergy reasons. Visitors are encouraged to bring other gifts like books, magazines and toiletries, but it's important not to clutter the patient's bed area.
Recognising and supporting carers: We recognises the vital role that carers play in the health and wellbeing of those they care for. Carers have a right, but not a duty, to continue to care whilst the person they care for is in hospital. If you would like a Carer Passport, please speak to the nurse in charge and they can arrange this for you.
Face masks: Masks may be required in some areas to protect patients who have lowered immunity, and these areas will have notices on entrance doors to advise visitors. Our priority remains patient safety. Although masks will no longer be mandatory in clinical areas, we will still be following IPC guidance to keep vulnerable patients safe.
Photos and videos: Please be mindful of the privacy and dignity of our patients. Do not take photographs or videos of them without their permission. Be mindful of other patients who may be in the background of a photograph of someone you are visiting.
Smoking: Please be aware we are a smoke free site and smoking is not permitted anywhere on Trust property, including outside on our grounds.
Different visiting arrangements apply for the following areas
Maternity
Partners are welcome on the unit at any time and are encouraged to stay overnight if the woman has a single room.
Siblings and all other visitors are welcome between 2pm and 7pm.
Special Care Baby Unit
Parents and carers are welcome to stay on the unit 24 hours a day.
Siblings are welcome between 8am and 8pm.
All other visitors (over 16 only) are welcome to join their parents and carers between 2pm and 7pm.
Critical Care
Visitors are welcome between 1pm and 3pm and 5pm and 7pm.
Other ways to stay in touch
Video app for families of inpatients
Friends and family of inpatients can connect to their loved ones via video link. Simply download the free Lifesize app onto your own device (android or Apple). Both parties then enter a unique number and they are able to video call each other. It works on Wi-Fi and 3G/4G. We have a number of Trust iPads patients can use if they do not have their own device.
More information on how to download the app is available here.
Please contact the ward your family is on to arrange this.
Email service for families of inpatients
We have set up a dedicated email address for families, carers and friends of patients currently in hospital as another way of keeping in touch.
Families are invited to send messages to connected@dchft.nhs.uk and are asked to please indicate the ward, initials and date of birth of the person they are contacting in the subject box of the email. We will ensure their messages are delivered as soon as possible. If a patient is unable to read the letter themselves, we will ensure a member of the ward team will read the message to them.