Visiting to restart at Wolverhampton and Walsall hospitals but children still banned

Bosses from the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust said wards will welcome the public back in a "controlled manner" from Wednesday due to a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Visitors to Walsall Manor will need to book a slot between 8am to 1pm on the day they want to visit, with times allocated between 1pm and 7pm. At New Cross slots will be bookable from 9am to 1pm for times between 1pm and 7.30pm.

Visitors will not be able to be booked in advance unless there are exceptional circumstances such as for visiting patients receiving end of life care, or visiting someone who has dementia, a learning disability or autism.

One visitor will be allowed for one hour per patient per day at both hospital trusts and children will not be allowed in apart from in exceptional circumstances.

Visitors must show a negative lateral flow test and will also need to be issued with a pass from the main reception at the Manor or the welcome hub at the Heart and Lung Centre at New Cross.

Certain wards will need to be contacted directly in Wolverhampton, including the maternity, neonatal and paediatric wards. Meanwhile visitors are still banned in the acute medical unit, clinical decisions unitand the Gynaecological ward.

People wanting to visit West Park Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, both of which are run by the Wolverhampton trust, will need to contact the wards directly by telephone to arrange a booking.

The Hilton Main ward in Cannock is excluded from visiting.

People who wish to book a slot at New Cross Hospital should call 01902 481868 on the day, or book via an online link that will be live on the trust's website on Wednesday.

Bookings for Walsall Manor Hospital can be made by phoning 01922 444040 or via the online link on Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s website at forms.office.com/r/YtVtQAEs7K.

It comes after relatives criticised the current system due to difficulties getting through on the phone.

Debra Hickman, director of nursing at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: "We have, where possible, supported visits on compassionate and certain other grounds throughout the pandemic and have worked hard to keep families connected with each other through video calls. We also set up our Messages to Loved ones initiative and delivered essential items to the wards.

"Even with these arrangements in place we do understand that this has been an exceptionally difficult time for patients and their loved ones as we have all worked to keep everyone as safe as possible, including our own staff. We are now really pleased to be able to offer controlled visiting from next week.”

"We thank everyone for abiding by the necessary restrictions that have been in place to keep our patients, visitors and staff safe. We ask them to please continue to follow our infection prevention advice so that we can, hopefully, move towards even greater visiting opportunities in the near future."

Lisa Carroll, director of nursing at the Walsall NHS Healthcare Trust, said: “Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we have supported visits on compassionate and certain other grounds and have worked hard to keep families in touch with each other through video calls. We also set up our Parcels to Patients service, delivering hundreds of essential items to the wards.

“We appreciate that even with these arrangements in place this has been a tough time for patients and their loved ones as we have all worked to keep everyone as safe as possible, including our own staff."

"We thank everyone for their patience and understanding while necessary restrictions have been in place and ask them to please follow our infection prevention advice so that we can, hopefully, move towards even greater visiting opportunities in the near future.”