Hospital visiting limited in Fife as region faces rise in COVID cases

NHS Fife has made the move to protect vulnerable patients and ensure the safety of its staff.

It has been introduced with immediate effect, and applies to all hospitals across the region.

Janette Owens, NHS Fife director of nursing, said: “With growing numbers of COVID-19 infections over recent weeks, it is clear that we have increasing spread of the virus within our communities in Fife.

“The nature of this virus is that it is highly infectious and can be easily spread by those with no symptoms at all, or with mild symptoms.

“For those most vulnerable amongst us, such as those cared for in our hospitals, contracting COVID-19 can be particularly dangerous and it is vital that we do all that we can to protect those most at risk of the effects of the virus and to protect our health and social care services.”

She said hospitals were now dealing with more emergency surgical and medical patient admissions than during previous waves of the virus.She added: “To allow us to increase bed capacity, while maintaining safe social distancing we have taken the decision to limit visiting to one named visitor.

“This change will apply to all hospitals in Fife and will be reviewed regularly."

There are a number of areas exempt from the new visiting arrangements, where visiting is considered to be essential and will continue to be permitted:

These include maternity, end of life care, mental health/ learning disabilities and children’s services.

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