Visiting restrictions ease at Northamptonshire community and mental health inpatient facilities
Visiting restrictions at Northamptonshire’s community hospitals, hospices and mental health inpatient wards – including Children and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) - are easing. This is in line with the lifting of national lockdown restrictions, and the recent announcement made by the county’s two acute Trusts – Kettering General and Northampton General – about the easing of visiting restrictions at the two hospitals.
Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) provides community and mental health services across the county. NHFT provides inpatient services at a number of community hospitals across Northamptonshire including Brackley Community Hospital, Corby Community Hospital, Isebrook Hospital in Wellingborough and Danetre Hospital in Daventry. NHFT also provides inpatient care at the Cransley and Cynthia Spencer hospices, as well as mental health inpatient care at St Mary’s Hospital in Kettering and Berrywood Hospital in Northampton, and CAMHS inpatient facilities at The Burrows and The Sett, both in Northampton.
From this week, NHFT will be easing visiting restrictions across its inpatient wards in the county. Each ward or service will manage its own visiting procedure based on individual risk assessments of the ward, the nature of the care provided and the facilities available. Northamptonshire residents seeking to visit their loved ones are advised to get in touch with the relevant ward for more information.
Key visiting guidance for NHFT wards is as follows:
- Visitors should be free of COVID-19 symptoms for ten days preceding their visit date
- Individuals deemed clinically extremely vulnerable are advised not to visit
- All individuals intending to visit should take a lateral flow test not more than 72 hours before the visit date. Visitors will be required to show evidence of a negative test when they arrive
- All visitors must wash their hands on entry to the visiting area, and wear a suitable face mask or covering. If exempt from wearing a face mask or covering, this must be declared and discussed with the ward team prior to the visit.
Julie Shepherd, Chief Nurse, said, “We know how important visiting is to our patients and service users, and their families, carers and loved ones. Understandably during the COVID-19 pandemic we have had to restrict visiting arrangements to keep everyone safe. We are pleased to be able to start return to visiting in a safe way, now that COVID-19 cases in the county, and the country as a whole, are beginning to stabilise and lockdown restrictions are being lifted.”
“Whilst this is very good news, it is still vitally important we continue to prioritise the safety of our service users, staff, visitors, and Northamptonshire residents as a whole. Therefore, we will still ask visitors to take sensible precautions, remember the Government’s advice of ‘hands, face, space’, and to contact the local teams for specific arrangements in each area.”