Visiting restrictions at Hinchingbrooke Hospital will be partially lifted from Monday, August 10 after the number of Covid-19 positive patients has reduced.

Visitors will be allowed access to ‘Green Areas’ which have been designated as Covid-19-free zones as long as they continue to follow the strict infection control measures that have been put in place.

These measures include wearing a face mask or face covering at all times when on site, keeping two metres away from others and practising thorough hand washing or hand sanitising upon entering and leaving both the site and ward areas.

The public will be asked to follow new signage that is now in place. Other measures introduced include limiting visiting to one visitor per patient, per day and that same visitor must remain consistent for the duration of the inpatient’s stay.

At this stage, no children will be allowed to visit. Visiting in adult inpatient wards will

last for one hour and times will be varied within wards to help maintain social distancing, whilst areas such as maternity post-natal wards will have different visiting times which are listed on the Trust website.

Areas such as Critical Care, or the wards which are treating patients with Covid-19, will be classified as ‘Red Areas’. Visiting restrictions will remain in place in these areas.

Caroline Walker, chief executive at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are so pleased that we have been able to lift some of the restrictions that have been in place for our patients and visitors. While I appreciate that it has been

incredibly difficult for inpatients and their loved ones in the past few months, the visiting restrictions have enabled us to keep our patients and staff as safe as possible and reduce the spread of infection.

“We would like to thank everyone for supporting us during what has been a challenging time. We still need your support to ensure that you check and follow the infection control processes that we have in place on all of our sites. These may change as a result of ongoing national guidance, but we hope that we can continue to keep our doors open to visitors.”