Visiting information and keeping in touch
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As well as visiting in person we offer lots of new services – such as virtual visiting – to help you keep in touch with your family and friends in hospital.
If you’d like to use any of these services contact our patient experience team on
01535 294019 or anhsft.patientadvice@nhs.net
Virtual Visits should be arranged directly with the ward
From 15 October 2022, we have made changes to our visiting restrictions.
We are very pleased to welcome visitors to our hospitals, Airedale General and Castleberg.
The health, safety and wellbeing of our patients, communities and staff, remains our priority. We understand that families are eager to visit their loved ones, but we need to ensure this is done safely and national advice for infection prevention is followed.
Our wards can be very busy environments. To ensure all patients have the opportunity to see their loved ones, there may be occasions when we ask you to leave the ward temporarily, to help us safely manage visiting numbers.
When you visit, we ask that you are respectful of other patients’ privacy, dignity and need for rest.
We’d like to thank you for your support and understanding during this time.
Visits are:
- Limited to two visitors per day
- Up to two hours duration only
- Between 1pm-8pm
- A faith leader may also visit as an extra visitor
- A face mask will be required in wards and clinical areas. You do not need to wear one in other parts of the building such as the corridors or the restaurant
- Children under 16 are allowed to visit, however it is not always advisable and is at the risk of their parent/guardian. Children should be part of the two visitors and not in addition.
When you should not visit:
If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or other respiratory infection (cold/flu symptoms) or sickness bug.
Visiting guidance
For Covid-positive inpatients, visits are as above, but limited to only one visitor. Please speak to the nurse in charge and wear any extra protective equipment that is offered.
Other departments:
- Emergency Department – we are very busy currently so please come unattended if you can. At any point we may need to restrict the number of people we can accommodate in the department to ensure we can safely socially distance, and your cooperation is appreciated.
- Outpatient Department – One person may accompany a patient to clinic appointments.
Visiting in Maternity
Pre-natal Scans
- Women will be allowed to have one adult in attendance with them for ultrasound scans. This person ideally should be the birthing partner or from the same household or bubble. Children are not permitted in the ultrasound room.
Labour Ward
During labour, one birth partner can be with you at all times.
If you are admitted for induction of labour in our induction bay, your main birth partner can remain with you from 10am until 8pm.
If you are required to stay on labour ward for a prolonged period of time after your birth you will be able to pre book a 1 hour slot for a second visitor to visit you. Your Midwife on the labour ward can discuss and arrange this for you.
Ward 21
- Your one main birth partner can be with you from 9am to 8pm.
- Between 2pm – 4 pm you may have 2 other visitors (for example friend/relative)
- Between 3pm and 6pm: women’s own children may visit (with first named birth partner only)
Any requests for visiting outside of these times will need to be discussed with the Midwife in charge.
Neonatal Unit
- 2 named patients/ guardians can visit
Visiting the Children’s Ward (Ward 17)
- Children on ward 17 may now also be visited by a second visitor/sibling between 11am-7pm
Exceptional circumstances
Please discuss with a member of staff about how we can facilitate visiting more flexibly in the following circumstances:
- Carers for patients who require assistance e.g. supporting someone with a mental health condition, dementia, delirium, a learning disability or autism, where not being present would cause the patient to be distressed.
- Immediate family members/partners of those at end of life.
How do I arrange a visit?
You no longer need to book your visit in advance for most of our wards.
You should contact the ward before your visit if:
- You are visiting the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)
- You would like to discuss visiting outside of the usual hours (exceptional circumstances only)
What to expect when you visit our hospitals
It is now personal choice whether you wear a mask in hospital communal or non-clinical areas and hospital corridors. These are supplied at the hospital entrances. Please ask the clinical department that you are visiting for specific guidance on mask wearing in that area.
Clean your hands using the disinfectant hand sanitiser provided or soap and water where available:
- on arrival to the hospital on entering the ward/department
- when putting on or taking off any personal protective equipment (PPE) or face coverings
- on leaving the patient’s bed space
- on leaving the ward or department
- on leaving the hospital building
- as soon as you get home
Please stay to the left of all corridors as marked on the floor. You should dispose of your mask at the PPE bins provided.
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, 2, 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
If you have a visit that you have arranged with our Chaplaincy Department please use this link:
https://nhs.vc/AiredaleChaplaincy
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
'With You' voice messages
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.
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 not accept audio tracks with malicious, hateful or offensive content
For more information, click here
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
01535 294019 or anhsft.patientadvice@nhs.net
if you’d like to use any of these services (Virtual Visits should be arranged directly with the ward).
Sending hugs
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 anhsft.virtualvisiting@nhs.net 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.
If you are not able to send us an email, please phone 01535 294027
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 the Sending Hugs service; however any donations to our Airedale Hospital & Community Charity are greatly appreciated.
