London area hospitals pressing pause on visitors

Visitor restrictions are one again being put in place at London and area hospitals.

Effective immediately at St Joseph’s Health Care Mount Hope Centre for Long-term Care, general visiting is being paused. The same policy goes into effect at all other St. Joseph’s properties and programs on Dec. 31 at midnight.

"Gotta do the right thing I guess," said Londoner, Steve Palmer, speaking to CTV News. "It’s obviously very unfortunate for anybody in there, to be in there without people to come visit you, especially this time of year would be tough, but hopefully we can get through this.

Essential caregiver presence for residents and inpatients and accompaniment on outpatient appointments remains in effect.

All essential caregivers will be asked to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and show government issued photo identification before entering any St. Joseph’s facility.

Also effective Dec. 31 at midnight at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), all non-essential care partner visits will be paused.

“As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly, it’s imperative to implement these measures to maintain a safe environment for patients, families, staff and physicians at LHSC and Children’s Hospital,” said Robert Sibbald, director of patient experience. “We know that families and friends help patients heal and we are working hard to balance this factor with the need for enhanced safety during this difficult time.”

In most cases, only one essential care partner will be able to visit at any one time. Exceptions to this include inpatients in Children’s Hospital and those in palliative care.

Key points from LHSC:

• Non-essential visits are paused until further notice
• One essential visitor is permitted at any one time
• Two essential visitors are permitted for inpatients in Children’s Hospital and for those in palliative care
• Essential visitors include those supporting labouring women, parents of children, and relatives of those in palliative care
• Patients are encouraged to work with their health care teams to identify essential care partners who can visit based on safety, ability to support care delivery, or compassionate reasons
• Parents visiting children are encouraged to make care arrangements for other children or siblings before visiting as they may not be permitted in some clinical areas 

In an effort to protect the health and safety of patients, staff and physicians, St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) has also made changes to its Essential Visitor policy.

Effective 12:01 a.m. on Friday, STEGH will implement temporary changes to further limit essential visits.

According to a release from the organization, this action is being taken out of an abundance of extreme caution for the safety of both patients and staff, given the surge of COVID-19 cases across the province and aligns with the approach being taken by other hospitals in the region.

Limited exceptions to the policy include:

• Two caregivers for a patient who is palliative / actively dying;
• One caregiver in the Special Care Nursery in addition to “mom and baby”
• One caregiver for a woman in labour;
• One parent/guardian of an ill newborn, child or youth (18 or younger);
• One caregiver for a patient with dementia or cognitive impairment, a physical disability, language barrier, or visual impairment;
• One caregiver is permitted to accompany a patient in the Emergency Department if the patient meets one of the above listed criteria.

“We want to thank our community for their understanding and support as COVID-19 directions continue to evolve,” said President & CEO, Karen Davies. “As a hospital, it is our priority and responsibility to keep our patients and staff safe.”