Coronavirus precautions at the RHN

Monday 1 June 2020

Our patients and residents are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 (coronavirus) In order to minimise the risk of the virus being brought into the hospital we have implemented a number of restrictions. The hospital is currently closed to visitors.

Our next steps

We recognise that our visiting restrictions have been very difficult for our families and friends, and we’ve missed you all very much. We know that stopping visits has been the right decision, and we thank you for your patience  and messages of support.

Our situation is now more settled, and we’re pleased to be able to report that we’ve had no new infections of COVID-19 for over a month. While that is really good news, we have to remain incredibly careful. Should any new infections occur, we’re in a position to react quickly and minimise further risks to our patients and staff.

We aim to restart visiting as soon as it’s safe to do so, but will wait to publish specific dates until the Government guidance permits people to travel for hospital visits. The current government guidance does not support this.

In order to enable visits but keep our hospital community safe, we have a plan to reintroduce visiting slowly and carefully. We will be introducing new guidance for visitors which will outline the new practices we’re adopting in order to maintain good infection control. These practices will need to stay for some time. (Guidance will be published as soon as we have a confirmed date for visits to start.)

Visits will take place in a controlled way, over a three-week cycle. It’s important we know who’s coming to visit, so that in the event of any further outbreak of infection, we can trace any possible contacts and isolate and monitor anyone who may have been put at risk.

Find out more about out plans for reintroducing visiting here.

We are looking forward to seeing you back at the RHN soon, and thank you for all your support.