Menu Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Back to news Latest information on the Coronavirus 6th October 2021 To protect you, our patients and our staff from coronavirus, despite some government relaxation in restrictions following the date of 19 July 2021, ALL patients, including inpatients, visitors and carers must continue to wear a hospital supplied disposable surgical face mask at all times unless exempt. Failure to wear a mask may mean you are refused entry to our sites. Temperatures will also be taken by our front door teams using an non-contact forehead thermometer and social distancing protocols are still very much in place. Those wearing their own mask or face covering will be asked to replace it with a disposable surgical face mask. Please advise staff upon entry to the hospital if you have any concerns. Read more about our Covid-19 safety protocols continuing beyond the 19 July, including wearing face masks when at our sites. Please note, whilst health checks are carried out at the main entrances of our hospital sites you may be required to queue, with marquees in place to protect people from the elements. Please be advised that whilst government guidelines are changing from Monday 16 August meaning those double vaccinated will no longer need to self-isolate if they are Covid positive contacts, we ask that to help keep patients safe, please do not visit our sites if you have been in contact with anyone Covid positive. Visitor Policy at Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital Protecting our patients and those who care for them is our top priority during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. In line with the government’s easing of restrictions, we are updating our visiting policy from Thursday 7 October to support more visiting across our hospitals: Each patient can now nominate two visitors to visit each day for one hour and visitors will not need to be named. Visitors must contact the ward for details about the designated visiting time for the ward. When visiting our sites: All visitors must enter by the main entrance at Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital and have their temperature checked using a non-contact infrared thermometer. Further information about non-contact infrared thermometers can be found here. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be provided to visitors/carers according to individual circumstances and a hospital issued face mask must be worn at all times. Hand hygiene – all visitors will be instructed on hand hygiene by ward staff, which should be performed at the beginning and end of each visit. We encourage all visitors to carry out their own lateral flow testing prior to travelling to our sites to ensure the safety of our patients. No children under 16 are permitted (except in Maternity wards) to visit except in compassionate circumstances. This must be arranged in advance with ward staff by telephone. Visitors may only visit one patient unless in exceptional circumstances. PLEASE DO NOT VISIT IF YOU HAVE ANY COVID SYMPTOMS OR YOUR HOUSEHOLD IS ISOLATING DUE TO SUSPECTED COVID Please also be aware of the following information across both hospitals: Covid wards – Visiting is not permitted with the exception of compassionate circumstances (e.g. end of life care, carers required) Lord North Ward – Please contact the ward to arrange visiting. Maternity Departments – For more information about the maternity visiting policy, including attending antenatal scans, visit www.mtw.nhs.uk/covid-19-maternity-information/ Critical care – 2 visitors may visit within the 1-hour visiting period Neonatal Unit – Both parents may visit, if unable to a grandparent may be nominated to visit during the set 1 hour visiting period Paediatric Wards – One parent may visit at all times, an additional parent may visit during the 1-hour visiting period Outpatients – to ensure social distancing in outpatient waiting areas people with an outpatients appointment should attend on their own. Only those requiring assistance, and children, may bring an accompanying person. Compassionate or exceptional circumstances (e.g End of life care) – Maximum of 4 close family / friends, time limit to be determined by the ward manager. Visiting time will be unlimited for patients who are receiving end of life care. Attending our Emergency Departments When attending our Emergency Departments it is important to be aware of the following: Only one parent/guardian can accompany a child No relatives permitted unless the patient is under 18 or in need of a registered carer You must wear a hospital issued mask at all times unless exempt You must comply with front door temperature checks We DO NOT tolerate any verbal or physical abuse Alternatives to visiting To help keep everyone safe, we ask you to consider other ways of keeping in touch with patients such as phone calls or video messaging. Please see our guide to patient ipads and using FaceTime. Please note, our cafes at both hospital sites remain closed to patients but that refreshments are still available to buy from the League of Friends shop, Costa and the M & S Food Hall at Maidstone Hospital and WHSmith, Costa at Tunbridge Wells Hospital. Patient Appointments Our priority during the pandemic has been ensuring that everyone who needs cancer treatment and urgent and essential care has been able to get it when they need it. To reduce the spread of Covid-19 by avoiding unnecessary contact, some non-urgent appointments, diagnostic procedures and planned surgeries were postponed or replaced with telephone or video consultations. We will ask patients to attend face-to-face services only when it is clinically necessary. Where possible, appointments will continue to be offered using remote services such as a video or phone consultation. If you have been contacted by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust to undertake your appointments via this method please click here, and follow the instructions received. Further information is also available on the following page. Please note that to protect patients and staff from Covid-19 you may require a Covid-19 swab prior to being admitted to, or attending an appointment at one of our hospitals. Click here to find out more. Our booking teams are working hard to reschedule any outstanding appointments and will contact you via phone or letter in the coming weeks. Please refrain from phoning the booking team at this time for routine enquiries. You can view a list of FAQ’s for Oncology patients here. Getting essential items to patients on wards Relatives, friends and carers can still get essential items to their loved ones who have been admitted to our hospitals during the pandemic. Should you choose to bring essential property for a patient to one of our hospitals, please make sure you clean/disinfect the items and that you place them in a clear, sealed easily cleanable bag. Please do not bring in bulky items. When you arrive at the hospital please go to the main entrance and speak to the security team about the purpose of your visit. They will then direct you to the nearby Hub where you can hand the bag to one of our volunteers. You will not be able to access the hospital due to restrictions to non-essential visiting. You will then be asked to complete a property checklist form, and to fill in the patient’s name, date of birth and the ward they are on. Both you and the person receiving the items must sign the form. Once completed the volunteer will take the bag and the completed form to the ward. A member of staff will then sign the same form to say they have received the items. After wiping the bag down they will take it, along with the form, to the patient so they can check the items against the checklist. Once the checks have been completed they will then be asked to sign the form (where possible) to say they have received the items. Please note, patient property will be accepted by The Hub between the hours of 10am and 3.30pm 7 days a week. We are unable to accept patient property outside of these times. Any essential patient property delivered outside of these times may be refused but if accepted might result in the need to be kept in a locked cage until someone is next available to take the items to the ward. Publications Accessibility Privacy policy Twitter Facebook YouTube LinkedIn © Crown copyright Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust Maidstone Hospital Hermitage Lane Maidstone Kent ME16 9QQ 01622 729000 Get directions Tunbridge Wells Hospital Tonbridge Road Pembury Tunbridge Wells Kent TN2 4QJ 01892 823535 Get directions This website uses cookies to make the site simpler. Find out more about cookies here or hide message