Restrictions on visiting patients at Gisborne Hospital have been eased.
Hospital visits were all but banned during the Covid-19 lockdown. Photo: Liam Clayton / The Gisborne Herald
During last month's Covid-19 lockdown, hospital visits were all but banned.
Although patients in the hospital's intensive care unit or isolation ward were still not allowed visitors as a rule, exceptions on "essential or compassionate grounds" were possible, clinical care manager Lynsey Bartlett said.
Otherwise, patients have since Saturday been allowed one visitor a day between 2pm and 5pm.
A patient's visitors must be from the same "bubble", Bartlett said.
Visitors would be screened at the hospital's only current public entrance, at the Emergency Department, and their details would be taken in case contact tracing was required, she said.
Visitors must be free of respiratory symptoms and not in isolation due to potential exposure to Covid-19.
"When limiting visitors to Gisborne Hospital, the health and wellbeing of our patients and staff are our highest priority," Bartlett said.
Free wifi remained available at the hospital, with staff encouraging families to stay in touch with patients via phone or messaging apps.
Exceptions to the visitor policy include women in labour, who were allowed one support person from their bubble; infants and children, who were allowed a parent or caregiver; and emergency department patients, who were allowed one support person.
Visitors would need to use hand sanitiser, practise social distancing and follow staff instructions, Bartlett said.
Children were not allowed on wards, and those aged over 70 or with health conditions that put them at greater risk of illness were advised to avoid visiting patients.
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