Visiting Family and Friends

This guidance is provided for your safety and the safety of our patients, visitors and staff at Kettering General Hospital. We would ask you to please follow this guidance to protect and respect.

 

 

Our restrictions will remain in place across the hospital. This includes a requirement for you to:

By following these five simple steps you can stop the spread of COVID and save lives.

 

We can all play a role in reducing the spread of COVID and keeping our hospitals safe. If you are coming to hospital as a visitor or for planned outpatient care, you must wear a face covering at all times. This is for your safety and the safety of other patients and staff.

 

We are asking that you to plan in advance and bring a face covering with you.

 

You will need to wear your face covering at all times for it to be effective:

 

 

Government guidance on the use of face coverings generally, is also available on their website.

 

For some people, wearing a face covering may be difficult due to physical or mental health conditions. In these instances, other measures will be considered on a case by case basis, for example timed appointments and being seen immediately on arrival. Please talk to our security team on arrival.

 

If you are deaf or hearing impaired, our staff have a range of communication options to ensure that they can communicate effectively with you. This might include the use of clear masks where possible, as well as visual aids such as writing things down, speech to text apps and sign language.

 

All visitors will be expected to comply with existing social distancing and hand hygiene measures in addition to wearing face coverings while in the hospital setting.

 

An easy read on face coverings and other COVID information is available on the Mencap website.

In line with the Trust’s guidance on visiting during the pandemic we are continuing to restrict visiting to the Emergency Department. The Trust is constantly reviewing visiting restrictions at KGH and listening to the views of our patients and our staff.  We are mindful of the impact that Covid-19 continues to have on communities across the country and we are aware that Northamptonshire continues to be an area of concern.

 

This has not been an easy decision for us to make and we know that some of our patients and their loved ones will be disappointed. However, our priority is to keep our patients and staff safe and not having visitors on site at the present time will help us to do this. We appreciate the support we have received from the local community and want to assure you all that we are looking forward to welcoming visitors back to our hospital as soon as it is safe for us and them to do so.

 

We ask you to wear a face covering at all times in the Department and to wash your hands frequently. If you are mask exempt please ask a member of our reception staff for a visor and a sticker to alert staff to your exemption. 

 

Staff will also be wearing facemasks at all times. Please let us know if you find communication difficult as a result of this. We have resources available to help reduce the impact. 

 

We understand there may be upsetting or difficult circumstances when visiting would be possible for one person by arrangement and agreement with the nurse in charge. Any such arrangements will need to be on a case by case basis following strict procedure to ensure everyone’s safety.

 

Visiting restrictions have been partially lifted as Covid-19 cases stabilise in Northamptonshire.

 

Key changes:

• Generally one visitor will be allowed per patient for an allocated timeslot. The visit must be booked in advance. Visitors must be from the same household or family bubble. (see below on how to book)
• Wards which have infected or exposed patients cannot be visited except by exception for end-of-life-care purposes
• Children are not allowed to visit
• A&E, outpatients, urgent care and diagnostic visits remain restricted to the patient attending only – unless there are exceptional circumstances where a relative/carer is needed to enable the visit. They may have to wait outside the clinical area while the patient is treated.
• Children’s wards – two parents or guardians per child can visit and one parent can stay overnight with their child
• Maternity visiting remains the same
• End of life patients are allowed open visiting where possible with one visitor per side room. This will be based on individual arrangements to suit the needs of patients and their loved ones.
• Visiting times and arrangements for patients with learning disabilities will be arranged on an individual basis depending on the patient’s needs.

To book appointments for hospital visiting:

On arrival to any ward or department, all visitors should wash their hands thoroughly (for 20 seconds at least) or use the hand sanitiser provided. We also ask that you use the hand sanitiser on leaving the ward or department.

To help us minimise the risk of infection we encourage all  visitors and patients entering and leaving the ward to cleanse their hands using the hand sanitisers available at entry points to the ward areas. 

 

If you are unable to use the hand sanitiser, please wash your hands with soap and water, at the nearest sink (at many ward entrances). 

As from 6th June 2016 KGH has been designated a totally smoke-free site - both inside and out.

 

The smoking ban is across the whole of the NHS as part of the Government's campaign to improve the health of the nation.

 

To maintain this, people smoking on the hospital site can expect to be addressed by a member of staff or our security team and asked to put out their cigarette.

Please be aware that the hospital has variable mobile phone signal and public WiFi coverage. As a Trust we are aware of this and are current making improvements to the public WiFi solution. More details to follow in due course.

 

The hospital cannot take responsibility for loss or damage of personal electronic equipment.

 

Please do not use your mobile phone to take photographs of staff or other patients during your stay – this is an infringement of other people’s privacy and could result in action being taken against you by the individual(s) concerned.

Sometimes friends and relatives like to bring food in for patients when they are visiting such as biscuits, cake, fresh fruit and juices. Please check first with the ward staff just in case the patient you are visiting has any dietary restrictions or difficulties in swallowing.

 

We generally do not encourage you to bring other food into the hospital from home, as there is a risk from food poisoning, if it is not stored correctly during transportation or in the hospital.

  

You should NOT bring in food that needs to be heated or cooked as there are no cooking facilities on the wards. Please always ask staff advice on the best way to store food brought in safely.

 

Relatives and friends are welcome to bring in their own drink, sandwich or snacks to eat whilst visiting at meal times as this can make the meal time experience more sociable especially for our older patients.

We encourage patients to wear suitable clothing during their stay, including day wear where possible.

 

To help us we ask that friends and relatives take home the patients dirty clothing in a sealed plastic bag to wash and bring in clean clothes.

 

This will helps our patients feel cleaner and fresher and reduce the risk of infection. Special clothes bags are available on the wards for this purpose, please ask ward staff if you need to use one.

We have some rooms available for relatives of seriously ill patients on the Intensive Care Unit. "Put-me-up" beds are also available for parents of children in our children's ward.

 

Sometimes relatives/carers wishing to stay on site can book single or double rooms (with allocated parking bays) through Optivo, the hospital’s staff housing provider. Please contact the Property Manager on 0203 202 0330 for details. 

 

Whilst most wards have regular visiting hours, they do not apply if your loved one is thought to be in the last days of life. Please feel free to stay with your loved one as long as you need to. If you wish to stay overnight please ask the ward how best we can accommodate this.

At Kettering General Hospital we believe End of Life Care matters; ensuring quality of care meets the individual needs of patients who are between the last year of life and the last hours or days of life.

 

The last few days or hours of life will be different for each person and it can be difficult to predict what will happen or how quickly changes will occur.

 

It is important you feel able to ask questions in order to understand what is happening. Medical and nursing staff will be there to support you and to answer any questions you may have.

For information on our Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Team click here.

"The Spiritual & Pastoral Care Service seeks to transform lives by nurturing and promoting wellbeing, wholeness and recovery through spiritual and religious outcomes of hope meaning and purpose"

 

The Chaplains are here to be a listening ear and a helping hand for you, your family and friends during your stay in hospital. Chaplains are members of hospital staff trained to provide religious, spiritual and pastoral care to all our patients, visitors and staff. 

 

The Chaplains regularly visit the wards and are always happy to see patients or visitors.  They are available to listen and provide practical help and support. Outside of normal working hours we provide a 24/7 on-call service.  If you ask the nursing staff they can always contact us.  

Working alongside the Chaplains are Chaplaincy Volunteers who visit the wards during the week and  weekends. 

We also have a Multi-Faith group, comprised of local people from different faiths (including Bahá’í, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim) who are able to visit in the hospital and minister as requested.

 

The Multi-Faith Chapel, near to the Main Reception, is always open and provides a quiet retreat in the midst of a busy hospital. It is a place for prayer and quiet reflection for people of all faiths and beliefs. A Multi-Faith Prayer Room (with washing facilities alongside), is also available in the main hospital.

If you would like a Chaplain or a member of the Multi-Faith group to visit, please call us on: 01536 492609, email kgh-tr.chaplaincy@nhs.netor ask a member of staff to contact us on your behalf.

 

 

 

 

 

If you have been pleased by the care that you have received please do take the time to let our staff know – it gives us all a real boost and a thank you goes a long way. For staff who have gone the extra mile you can also nominate them for one of our CARE Smile Awards KGH Smile Nomination Form Word 2018.pdf [pdf] 425KB .

 

You can also leave comments about the care you have received on the NHS Choices website or complete our Friends and Family Questionnaire.