Infection prevention guidance for visitors

At the Walton Centre we aim to do everything to maintain the safety of your friend or relative while they are in our care. Reducing infections is a top priority and long term commitment of the Trust and we will continue to take every step possible to keep healthcare associated infections to a minimum.

As visitors you play an important role in keeping the hospital free of infection by following these guidelines.

Help us to protect our patients and yourselves by following these guidelines:

• Refrain from visiting patients if you have any illnesses such as vomiting and/or diarrhoea, coughs, colds or flu-like symptoms and any infectious conditions e.g. chicken pox, mumps etc. If you have had diarrhoea and/or vomiting you must not visit until you have had no symptoms for 48 hours.
• Clean your hands before and after visiting. There are hand wash stations at the entrance to all our wards. Alcohol hand rub dispensers can be found at the entrance to all our wards, patient rooms and at the end of each bed. Alcohol hand rub can be used to kill germs on the hands but only if the hands are visibly clean. If your hands are visibly dirty they must be cleaned using soap and water
• Limit the number of visitors to a bed, 2 at a time only
• Do not sit on the patients bed, if there are no chairs available please speak to nursing staff
• Never touch dressings, drips or other equipment around the bed
• Do not allow children to crawl/play on the floor or sit on the patient bed
• If you know the person you are visiting has an infection, please do not visit other patients on the ward
• Please take note of the visiting times on the ward. If you wish to visit outside the allocated times please discuss with the ward manager.
• If you think the hospital is not as clean as it should be please inform the nurse in charge.
• If you think a member of staff may have forgotten to clean their hands, IT IS OKAY TO ASK, staff will not mind being reminded of the importance of hand washing.
• Fresh flowers and potted plants are not permitted in hospital as these pose an infection risk to patients

Food

We do not recommend that visitors bring in any food to the hospital other than chocolates, biscuits, fruit or sweets, all of which can be covered. If you would like to bring any other foods in please discuss with the ward manager.

Gifts

Please remember that space on the ward is very limited. To support staff in keeping the ward clean, we must avoid unnecessary clutter around the bed:

• Large cuddly toys and bulky items are not advisable
• Balloons etc are not advised

We are confident that if everyone coming into a hospital follows these simple guidelines, together with the measures taken by doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, we can further improve the prevention and control of infection.

For more information, please contact: Infection Prevention and Control Team 0151 529 5599