Chesterfield Royal Hospital suspends visiting amid Covid surge

Chesterfield Royal Hospital has announced it is suspending patient visiting amid a surge in Covid patients.
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Bosses say ‘all but the most essential’ on-site patient visiting will be suspended from tomorrow (New Year’s Eve).

The hospital said the move is in line with many other hospitals across the country and is designed to prevent the spread of infection, maintain care levels and services and to protect people.

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Krishna Kallianpur, Chief Nurse at the Royal, said: “Today, we have 48 patients in our care who are COVID positive, with one in Critical Care.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital has announced it is suspending patient visiting amid a surge in Covid patients.Chesterfield Royal Hospital has announced it is suspending patient visiting amid a surge in Covid patients.
Chesterfield Royal Hospital has announced it is suspending patient visiting amid a surge in Covid patients.

“This was a tough clinical decision and we will be continually reviewing, with any updates posted on our social media channels or on our website.

“We encourage you to speak with the Nurse in charge of where loved ones are inpatients if they have any concerns – noting that there will be some exceptions and flexibility.”

These include:

*For patients in their last days of life;

*A birthing partner may accompany a woman in labour and for the immediate post-natal period;

*A parent or appropriate adult visiting a child;

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*Patients suffering mental health issues, such as dementia, a learning disability or autism where not having visitors may cause distress;

*Critically ill patients in the ITU or High Dependency areas.

Krishna added: “We are incredibly grateful for your support during these challenging times; we understand that you will be worried about your friends and loved ones in hospital – but please be assured that we have free NHS Wi-Fi access for video messaging, wards have a number of iPads to ensure that you can stay in touch with a loved one virtually.”