Temporary visiting restrictions have been eased at Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway.
From today, each inpatient will be able to have two indoor visits per week. However only one named visitor will be able to visit at a time. Advance notice of a visit must be given to ward staff. Visitors are urged to take a home covid test before rrival.
Visiting curbs were imposed three weeks ago at the Stornoway hospital due to the facility being “extremely busy.”
Visiting in the hospitals in Benbecula and Barra was not affected and remains as two named visitors.
Relatively high numbers of people and patients meant it was “not be possible to maintain safe physical distancing” in the Stornoway hospital which was dealing with a backlog of non-
NHS Western Isles said: “The Stornoway hospital is the only hospital available to meet the needs of the local population on Lewis and Harris and, due to current demand for inpatient beds, we have had to increase the number of beds available and have not been able to maintain safe physical distancing.
“Whilst the hospital continues to be extremely busy, and the Covid-
“This includes introducing new partition screens in each ward.
“We would however stress to visitors and patients that transmission risks are ever-
“This includes careful observance of safety precautions to protect themselves from the risks of contracting Covid-
Essential visiting from immediate family members will continue for some patients such as in the maternity ward, a person receiving end-
Essential visitors may visit more than once a day if required, and there is no restriction on the numbers of essential visitors for each inpatient.
New hospital visiting arrangements
21 June 2021