Shrewsbury and Telford maternity wards beginning to lift visitor restrictions
Some of the restrictions on visitors to maternity units at Shropshire's major hospitals have been relaxed.
The decision by Shrewsbury & Telford Hopsital NHS Trust (SaTH) means a number of changes to visitor restrictions.
Maggie Bayley, interim chief nurse at SaTH, said: “We have been looking at how we can safely ease the restrictions that were put in place during to the Covid-19 outbreak to keep our patients and staff safe.
“We are very pleased we can make these immediate changes to visiting, however we are not yet in a position to lift all restrictions.
“We would like to say thank you for the understanding shown by those using our services during this difficult time and to reassure them that we are constantly reviewing the restrictions we have in place.”
For ultrasound scans one birthing partner can now attend 12 and 20-week scans, and in the delivery suite one birth partner can attend and will be given a visiting wristband.
More Covid-19 coverage:
In the antenatal and postnatal wards women can be accompanied by the same one birthing partner for induction of labour and or latent phase of labour to offer support, providing a side room is available.
Visiting to the wards will be staggered and must be booked in advance, with the antenatal ward from 10am to noon and the postnatal ward from 1pm to 3pm.
One birthing partner may visit the ward for one hour between the allocated times. Under current coronavirus (Covid-19) guidelines, children are not able to visit.
In the neonatal unit, mothers who have been discharged home, and a named partner may continue to visit independently, following the current guideline of one visit per day - with no time restriction - and one visitor per bed space at any one time.
In addition, mothers and partners will now be able to visit together for one hour, with allocated times.
People are being urged to contact their midwife or ward if they have any questions or concerns about visiting.
The changes can be viewed at sath.nhs.uk/news/updated-arrangements-for-visiting-july2020
