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Temporary visiting restrictions remain in place at West Herts Hospitals

Posted: 14 January 2021

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Visiting at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust continues to be temporarily suspended due to the increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in the local community.

The hospital trust, which covers Watford General Hospital, St Albans City Hospital and Hemel Hempstead Hospital, restricted visiting in adult inpatient areas on Saturday 1 January 2022 for an initial period of two weeks. Having carefully reviewed the situation, the trust have decided to keep restrictions in place for a further two weeks until the end of January.

The trust will continue to closely monitor the local situation, and the decision will be reviewed again at the beginning February with a view to reinstating visiting.

Tracey Carter, the trust’s Chief Nurse, said: “We recognise how important visiting is for patients and their families. However, the increase in cases locally does now pose a greater risk and we feel that it is now necessary to restrict visiting to keep our patients and staff as safe as possible. We hope to be able to ease these restrictions as soon as we can do this safely.”

In exceptional circumstances, for example when visiting children or patients receiving end of life care, visiting arrangements can be made in advance by contacting the ward directly. Please see the trust website for further information (www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk/covid/visitingrestrictions.asp)

Exceptional circumstances include visits when:

Visiting arrangements for maternity services at the hospital sites will not be affected by these changes. Further details about current visiting arrangements for maternity are available on the trust’s maternity services website (www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk/maternity/).

Ends

  1. For more information, please contact the communications team on: 01923 436280 or email: westherts.communications@nhs.net. Out of hours, please call the Watford General Hospital switchboard on 01923 244366 and ask for the on call communications manager.
  2. West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead. The trust has a catchment area of over 500,000 people and is one of the largest employers locally, with around 5,000 staff and volunteers.
  3. For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) and find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS)