COVID-19 patient information

Visiting during COVID-19

The health, safety and wellbeing of our patients, communities and individuals and teams remain our absolute priority.

We understand many of you will be eager to visit, but we need to ensure this is done safely, ensuring social distancing and other government advice is followed.

We appreciate how hard it has been to keep in touch with loved ones who are in hospital with these restrictions in place. We’d like to thank you for your support and understanding during this difficult time.

Due to the recent lockdown announcment, our visiting restrictions have been revised.

From 5th January 2021 visits will be:

  • Permitted after the patient has been in hospital for 21 days or longer

  • Limited to one close family contact or somebody important to the patient.

  • Up to one-hour duration, twice a week

  • Between the hours of 1:00pm- 7:00pm

Visits are restricted in:

*Except in exceptional circumstances as outlined on the final page of the leaflet below

How do I arrange a visit?

  • Contact the ward to discuss appropriate arrangements

  • You should contact by 12pm to arrange visits for the following day. Our ward teams are extremely busy, so please bear with us

We will continue to review our visiting arrangements in line with national guidance and the local infection rates, so please be aware we may need to change this guidance at short notice. 

We appreciate how difficult this situation is for families. We will continue to run our services that we’ve set up to support relatives to maintain contact with their loved ones whilst they are in hospital.

PLEASE DO NOT TRAVEL TO THE HOSPITAL IF YOU HAVE NOT DISCUSSED YOUR VISIT WITH THE WARD STAFF FIRST.

If a visit has been agreed, please read this leaflet carefully before attending.

COVID Patient Information Leaflet -Visiting Guidance for relatives JAN 21

Virtual Visiting

We are offering a virtual visiting service using iPads so you can virtually meet with your loved one. They will be supported with the visit by a member of our ward staff.

What do I need for a visit?

You need an email address, a Wi-Fi connection or mobile data and a smart device (Apple or Android) or PC/Laptop with webcam and microphone. Watch this short video for more information

How long are visits?

We’re suggesting 20-30 minutes for a visit.

Can more than one relative join a visit?

Yes but we do not suggest more than two people joining at once. You will both need to login to the waiting room on your separate devices.

How do I arrange a visit?

You should contact the ward directly to arrange your visit and they will discuss a mutually agreed time with you.

What do I need to do?

At the time agreed with the ward, you should click into one of the waiting rooms below. PLEASE ONLY CLICK THE LINK IF YOU HAVE PRE BOOKED A VISIT.

If you’re not familiar with the technology, test the link in advance of your visit to check it works.

For wards 9, 13, 14, 18, 19 and AAU, please use this link:
https://nhs.vc/virtual-visiting-for-families-carers-hot-wards

For wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, Castleberg, Neonatal and Maternity please use this link:
https://nhs.vc/virtual-visiting-for-families-and-carers

For Intensive Care Unit (ICU) please use this link:
https://nhs.vc/icu-virtual-visiting

I’m having problems, what should I do?

  • Ensure you have allowed the website to access the camera and microphone on your device

  • Ensure you have opened the link in Google, Google Chrome or Safari

  • If you are using an iPhone or iPad, close other apps running in the background on your device

  • Our ward staff may have arranged a time with you but may be delayed, wait for up to 10 minutes and contact the ward if you are still waiting to be seen after this time

Pick up/drop off service

The Trust has set up a service for relatives so you can drop off a bag of personal belongings and if required, collect any laundry items from your loved one to take home with you.

We hope this service will help to make your loved one’s stay more comfortable in hospital and give you piece of mind that they have their own things available to them.

The service runs Monday to Friday 10am-4:00pm. If you need to drop off outside of these times, please contact the ward directly.

If you have symptoms of COVID-19 in your household or have been advised to self-isolate, you must inform the staff member when you contact us.

Click here for more information about booking for a pick up/ drop off

Pick up and drop off for patients and relatives 11-20

During this time, when families and friends are not able to visit their loved ones in hospital, we have set up a dedicated ‘Sending Hugs’ service so you can send your loved one get well wishes with a letter and a couple of photos.

We can also supply and send your loved one a greetings card with a message of your choice.

Our team of volunteers will deliver these to the wards.

Upon receipt of your request our team of volunteers will:

  • print your letter and laminate any photographs OR

  • print your e-card or hand write one

If you would like to make a request, please email virtualvisiting@anhst.nhs.uk attaching the letter and photographs.

You can design your card using this website. Once finished, email it to the above address we will print it off for you and send it to your loved one. https://www.greetingsisland.com/cards/thoughts-and-feelings/get-well

If you are not able to send us an email, please phone 07769 165466

You must provide your loved one’s (the patient’s) full name, date of birth and ward they are staying on.

There is no charge for any of our service, however any donations to the Care for Airedale campaign are greatly appreciated.

www.justgiving.com/campaign/careforairedale

With You 

We are delighted to be taking part in a pilot project with charity, Trigger Stuff.

Would you like to send your loved one voice messages to listen to whilst they are in hospital?

With You is a free messaging service that anyone can use to create and send voice messages to a loved one in care.

www.withyou.org.uk/welcome

How it works:

  • Visit the website and create an account

  • Get a unique pin and phone number

  • Share the number and pin with family and friends encouraging them to leave messages of hope and positivity

  • Review and edit your messages and create one audio track

  • Email the track directly to your loved one if they have their own device to listen to it

  • The hospital has headphones available for use

  • If your loved one is staying with us on ICU, we can arrange to play the track to your loved one on a device available on the ward. Contact the ICU directly if you’d like to arrange this

Please note we will accept audio tracks with malicious, hateful or offensive content

For more information, click the link below.

With you poster relatives airedale -ALL

Care Parcels and Activity Packs

You can arrange to send a Care Parcel to your loved one during their hospital stay. The package is a small bundle of items to help your loved one to feel more comfortable during their time in hospital. A card will accompany each parcel and you can customise a short message.

We aim to deliver parcels within 24 hours.

We also have a Dignity Room which can provide patients with clean clothing and nightwear, should they arrive in hospital without their belongings.

In addition to this, we have developed a series of activity packs for patients to keep people occupied whilst on our wards. The packs include puzzles, quizzes, colouring in tec. If you’d like to request a pack, please contact us.

Contact our patient experience team on

07769 165466 or virtualvisiting@anhst.nhs.uk

 if you’d like to use any of these services (Virtual Visits should be arranged directly with the ward).