We appreciate how hard it has been to keep in touch with loved ones who are in hospital with the restrictions in place. We'd like to thank you for your support and understanding during this difficult time.
We need to maintain safety for all, ensuring social distancing and other national NHS advice is followed. We will continue to review our visiting arrangements in line with national guidance and the local infection rates.
This guidance is subject to change at short notice so please check this website for updates.
On this page you can find information about (use the links to visit each section):
Everyone accessing or visiting our healthcare services must continue to wear a face mask and follow social distancing rules from 19 July 2021.
The national guidance for healthcare settings remains unchanged. This means anyone coming into hospital before and after 19 July 2021 must continue to:
These measures are important so that the most vulnerable people can continue to safely attend hospital, and to help protect our staff and patients by reducing the risk of infection.
Thank you for helping us keep our patients, staff and community safe.
Visiting restrictions are in place at our hospitals. The current guidance can be found below. Please use this visitor checklist to help you plan for your visit
Visits permitted are:
Exceptions can be made under compassionate grounds or if the patient has specific needs that require the support of a carer, including vulnerable patients with dementia or learning disabilities, patients with a key carer, and patients receiving end-of-life care.
It may be that the ward has to restrict or postpone your visit if there are too many visitors, to allow for social distancing and the safety of all. We apologise in advance if this occurs.
Anyone coming into the hospital must:
If you are considered at 'high risk', visiting is not recommended and you do so at your own risk.
Before your visit, a member of our ward staff will discuss your visit and what you can expect.
On the day of your visit staff will ask the following questions, as part of a safety check:
The following areas permit two parents/carers to be at bedside:
Two parents/carers are also permitted for:
Please note two parents/carers are permitted in these areas only. These two visitors need to be the same named visitors for the duration of your child's stay.
Parents/carers moving from one of the above areas to a different ward or area will need to follow the one parent/carer visitor restrictions (a maximum of two parents/carers can be named as visitors but only one will be allowed on the ward at a time) and handover between parents/carers must take place outside of the hospital.
Those coming into our children's emergency department, outpatient departments and all other wards/areas can be accompanied by one parent, immediate family member or carer at any one time.
Please speak to the ward/area manager or the nurse in charge if you have any questions about visiting restrictions or if you or your child has specific needs that need to be taken into consideration. Exceptions may be possible under the discretion of the ward/area manager or the nurse in charge.
Siblings are not permitted in the hospital except in exceptional circumstances.
You must not visit in any circumstances if you have a new continuous cough, high temperature or have a loss/change in your normal sense of smell or taste.
Please speak to the nurse in charge if you have any questions about wearing face masks or if your child has specific needs that need to be taken into consideration, such as a child who has a disability and needs the support of a carer.
If you are having your baby at St Michael's Hospital or Ashcombe Birth Centre, please view the current guidance for maternity services.
Bristol Royal Infirmary and Weston General Hospital emergency departments
Those coming to our emergency departments at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Weston General Hospital are asked to attend alone, with a very small number of exceptions at the discretion of the nurse in charge or a consultant. People who are there to support a patient are not counted as a visitor, such as those accompanying:
Where a visitor has been permitted, it will be limited to one person to accompany the patient, and they must have no COVID-19 symptoms.
Anyone coming into the hospitals must:
If you are in any doubt or need to make additional arrangements to support your particular needs please speak to a member of staff.
Those coming into our children's emergency department can be accompanied by a maximum of one family member, friend or carer. Those accompanying a child into the department must have no COVID-19 symptoms.
Anyone coming into the hospital aged over 11 must:
Please continue to attend your hospital appointments unless you are advised otherwise. You don't need to call to check that a booked appointment is going ahead. We will be in touch if anything changes with your care.
However, please be aware of the following information ahead of your appointment:
Please view the BNSSG website for advice and support if you are waiting for a routine (planned) operation or procedure.
Health and care agencies across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire are working together to try to ensure people are able to leave hospital as soon as they are medically well enough. Our priority is ensuring people are discharged safely to continue their recovery and our teams will discuss with individuals and a family member if they wish, the details of their discharge once the doctor has advised they are well enough to leave hospital. Find out more.
The Sirona care & health website has details of services for people with diabetes, including how to contact the diabetes community services for advice and guidance. The site also contains resources with advice and guidance for dealing with diabetes during the coronavirus outbreak.
Diabetes UK are also urging parents not to let coronavirus fears stop them from seeking medical help if they're worried their child is showing the signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes. Read their news story to find out more.
We know it is important for our patients to keep in contact with family and friends and we will support them where possible to make use of any telephone or video calls so they can keep in contact with their loved ones.
But it is also important that we look at other ways we can help people keep in touch and we have a Message to My Loved One service which gives people a chance to try something a bit different to the normal routine methods of communication at a distance.
The Message to My Loved One service is being run by UHBW's patient experience team with the support of Trust Voluntary Services and allows people to send in messages via email or a dedicated phone line, which will then be printed and delivered to patients.
Messages received by 11am each day, Monday to Friday, will be delivered that day to inpatients in our hospitals.
The Trust is also offering the chance for people to drop off small gifts, letters or essential personal items from 10.30am to 12.30pm, Monday to Friday, which members of the team can pass on. We aim to deliver the items to the wards as soon as possible from them being delivered, but it may be not be the same day.
If you would like to send a message to a loved one in hospital please email messagetomylovedone@uhbw.nhs.uk or call 0117 342 1561 for Bristol hospital sites or 01934 881394 for Weston General Hospital.
If you would like to drop off a small gift, letter or essential personal items for a loved one in hospitals, please follow the following guidance:
Items can be dropped off from 10.30am to 12.30pm Monday to Friday at the Patient Possessions Drop-off point in the main entrance of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, and to the main reception desk at Weston General Hospital.
We want to hear your experiences of our services during Covid-19. We hope your experience has continued to be a positive one, but if you have ideas about how we could do things better, please let us know by completing this short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VWQW25M