MEDIA STATEMENT
For Immediate Release:
December 22, 2020
As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, the safety of patients, families and staff remains a top priority for London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). Although we are not stopping all care partner visits to LHSC, effective with the introduction of the provincial lockdown at 12:01 am December 26, 2020, we will be implementing the following new visitor restrictions.
University Hospital - University Hospital remains under orders of the Middlesex London Health Unit to only allow visitation for patients who are actively dying.
Victoria Hospital - LHSC will be limiting all visitation to only those care partners deemed essential by clinical staff. No regular daily visits will be permitted during the current lockdown.
There are no changes for paediatric patients in Children’s Hospital at LHSC, or for accompaniment to outpatient appointments for adults.
Please visit our public website for more information about the coming visitor policy restrictions. For the period of Dec. 22-25, pre-approved care partners may continue to come to the hospital.
The updates we are making to the current visitor policy are in alignment with the most recent guidance from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, rising community transmission rates, recommendations from the Ministry of Health, and the Ontario-wide lockdown.
While it is imperative that we implement stricter measures in order to maintain a safe environment for patients, families, and staff, we also recognize the impact of isolation for patients and families during this difficult time and are doing everything we can to help patients and loved ones stay connected.
The hospital supports the use of technology to connect with loved ones through virtual options, like Skype, FaceTime, WebEx, or telephone calls. LHSC has increased our guest Wi-Fi capacity and continues to offer this service for free to patients, and bandwidth increases are in place to allow for high-quality video calls to family and friends. When patients do not have access to their own personal device, assistance may be provided on request to access technology and assist with virtual visitation.
LHSC values the role of family members and other visitors as essential partners in care delivery and we remain committed to patient and family-centred care through the pandemic. We will continue to make every effort to ensure that the needs of patients and families are met while these temporary measures are in place.
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