Kettering General Hospital relaxes visiting restrictions as Covid cases fall

Kettering General Hospital patients will be allowed visitors again from today (Friday) after a fall in Covid cases meant restrictions could be relaxed.

NHS bosses suspended visiting at adult inpatient wards on December 29, having triggered its critical incident status because of the demand on its services.

Only compassionate visiting was allowed, with staff offering increased virtual visits, although maternity and paediatrics were not affected by the measures.

Today the Rothwell Road hospital remains in a critical incident – but they are now returning to pre-Christmas visiting arrangements after Covid cases dropped from 45 to 27 and appear to be on a downward trend.

From today patients on adult inpatient wards can have one visitor for an hour per day.

Kettering General Hospital’s chief executive, Deborah Needham, said: “We are monitoring infections every day and feel we have now reached a threshold where we can relax some of the measures we have taken to protect our patients.

“We understand just how important visiting is to patients and how it helps them to recover, and we need to balance this very carefully against the risk of infections being brought into the hospital.

“Even when visiting does return to normal we will continue to urge all members of the public not to attend hospital to visit loved ones if they have symptoms of colds, flu or Covid-19, as clearly that increases the risk of infections getting into our hospital which is full of vulnerable patients.”

The hospital is continuing to ask patients, visitors and staff to wear masks to prevent the spread of infections like Covid-19 and flu.

Visiting measures remain in place at Northampton General Hospital but are being reviewed on daily basis.

KGH’s infection prevention and control guidance to the public includes:

- Anyone showing any symptoms of Covid-19 or feeling otherwise unwell must not visit

- Do not visit if a member of your household has tested positive for Covid-19 or flu

- Visitors, parents, guardians and siblings will be asked to wear a surgical facemask to visit wards, including the Emergency Department

- Symptom/wellness checks will be completed on arrival in wards

- People should continue to wash their hands regularly before, during and after attending hospital