London Health Sciences Centre revises visitor restrictions beginning Tuesday

(LONDON, Ontario) Effective Tuesday, May 6, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) will revise its visitor restrictions.

"We are striving to find a balance between the need to stay vigilant against the spread of SARS with our commitment to provide a patient-centred approach to care," says Dr. Murray Girotti, Vice-President Academic and Medical Staff at LHSC. "The SARS situation has highlighted for all hospitals in the province that there is a need to protect patients, staff and the community from communicable diseases and that infection control precautions should be carefully considered when developing visitor policies."

WHAT HAS CHANGED

Inpatients are now allowed one visitor of their choosing per day during the following visiting hours:
Weekdays: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Weekends: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Patients will advise the hospital of their chosen visitor on a daily basis.

Adult patients undergoing inpatient or day surgery are now allowed one visitor in the Hospital the day of their procedure. Children undergoing surgery will be permitted two parents or guardians in the Hospital. No siblings will be allowed entry. After surgery, all other visitor restrictions apply.

WHAT HAS NOT CHANGED

Visitor restrictions for the following inpatient groups remain unchanged:

• Palliative - 2 visitors per day. Clergy or other visitors at the discretion of caregivers
• Children - 2 parents or guardians per stay (no siblings)
• Critical - 1 visitor per day
• Pregnant women in labour - 1 person per stay
  

Patients arriving for clinics, day procedures or diagnostics are not allowed visitors. An exception will be made to allow one escort for children and for adult patients who are frail, elderly, disabled or require other types of special assistance. Visitor Centres at each site will continue to receive family members and other visitors accompanying these patients.

Emergency Department patients are not permitted to have family members or visitors accompany them into the patient care area unless the patient is critically ill or a child (see above restrictions which then apply).

"All visitors will need to pass the SARS screening prior to entry and we want people to know that as we increase the number of visitors, we expect line ups at the visitor doors," adds Dr. Girotti.

For more information, visit our website at www.lhsc.on.ca or call our Community Line at 519-685-8500, ext. 50150.