THE NHS in Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has suspended visits at all hospitals to protect patients and staff from the deadly coronavirus.
The suspension comes into place immediately from today, which comes following a jump in the number of confirmed cases in Scotland to 719.
There are 221 people with the bug in NHSGGC alone, and 22 people with the virus have died in Scotland so far.
The suspension applies to all visitors apart from the following "essential" groups.
READ MORE: Coronavirus LIVE: Biggest overnight increase as Scotland hits 719 cases with 22 deaths
These are:
· One birthing partner, during labour, who must remain within the maternity area at all times.
· Parents of children who are inpatients or attending an outpatient appointment. Parents should remain with their child at all times during the visit.
· One person to support someone with a mental health issue such as dementia, a learning disability or autism where not being present would cause the patient to be distressed
· One family member of those receiving end of life care
Those essential visits must arrange their visit through the nurse in charge of the ward, with only one visitor able to attend at any given time.
No children are permitted to visit.
The health board added that all visitors must use hand sanitiser when entering and leaving clinical areas and must not visit if they are experiencing a persistent cough, fever or flu like symptoms.
Essential visitors at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital will be greeted by volunteers with hand sanitiser.
Volunteers will also encourage those in the main atrium and food areas to practice social distancing measures.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Over 220 cases in Glasgow as Scotland hits 719 with 22 deaths
Angela O'Neill, Deputy Nurse Director of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "In these extraordinary circumstances, we have made the decision to suspend all visiting from our hospitals. This is to protect our patients, staff and public from COVID-19.
"We understand this will be difficult - visitors are normally warmly welcomed into our hospitals but our main priority now is to keep everyone safe.
“We want to thank everyone for their understanding and cooperation.
"Essential visitors, like birthing partners, parents of children and those visiting a family member receiving end of life care, will continue to be allowed, however only 1 visitor at any given time.
"If you are in the essential group of visitors, please speak to the nurse in charge to arrange.”
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel