New rules as visitors to KGH and NGH must provide proof of negative Covid test

New rules are being introduced for visitors to the county's two main hospitals to help prevent the spread of Covid as cases of the Omicron variant continue to rise across the UK.

From Tuesday, December 14, anyone planning to visit a loved one at Northampton General Hospital or Kettering General Hospital will need to provide proof of a negative lateral flow test before being allowed onto the ward.

All visitors to adult inpatient wards will be required to show evidence of their negative lateral flow test result before they will able to enter the ward.

They will need to be able to show the evidence of a negative result via the Government issued text message or email, or if this is not possible they can bring the test in a plastic bag.

Sheran Oke, director of nursing, midwifery, patient services and infection prevention at NGH, said: “With the spread of the new Omicron variant, we all have a responsibility to make sure that we don’t spread Covid-19 to other people, especially those who are at a higher risk.

“To help to keep our patients as safe as possible from Covid-19 we will be introducing the lateral flow tests for anyone visiting a loved one in hospital with us.

"This will mean that we can make sure visitors’ loved ones are safe and also protect our other patients and our colleagues. By supporting us with these tests people are helping us to make sure our patients get to spend precious time with their loved ones in a safe way.

“At this time of year there are a lot of winter bugs so we would also remind anyone planning to visit not to come to the hospital if they have any symptoms of Covid-19, colds, coughs, sore throats, diarrhoea or vomiting."

Visiting guidance for adult inpatient wards:

• Only one visitor may visit the patient each day for 45 minutes

• All visitors must clean their hands and wear a hospital face mask

• Visits must be pre-booked the day before by phoning the ward ideally between 9.30am and 11.30am

• Visitors must show proof of a negative lateral flow test from that day before they will be allowed entry to the ward

• The visitor must be in the same household or support bubble as the patient

• Visiting for maternity, paediatrics, end of life, A&E and outpatients remains the same at the current time

• Children cannot visit unless there are special circumstances

Fiona Barnes, director of nursing at Kettering General Hospital, said: “Patients in our hospitals are more vulnerable to infections, therefore we all need to play our part and make sure we are doing all we can to protect them from Covid-19.

“We know that lateral flow testing does work and it helps us to identify anyone who may have Covid without knowing it. Nationally around one in three people with Covid-19 don’t have any symptoms but are still infectious and can easily pass the virus on to others. By asking visitors to do lateral flow tests we can we protect their loved ones, other vulnerable patients around them and the colleagues we have caring for them.

“We hope that our visitors will support our ward teams with this request and treat them with kindness and compassion”.

Lateral flow tests are available for free locally to both hospital sites. Locations of how to collect a test near the hospital or your home address are available here. They can be collected in person or can be ordered to a home address from the government website.