What happens when I come in?

Please refer to the Patients and visitors pages| for the hospital’s general guide to information for visitors.

Arrival

At the front of our unit we have a visitors’ room. Once in this room you need to phone the unit to ask if you are able to visit; although we try to be as flexible as possible we need to respect the privacy of patients if they are being washed or turned and also when there is a ward round in progress. The phone number to ring is next to the phone. The unit staff will let you in through a locked door. The door is locked for staff and patient security.

Please clean your hands with the alcohol gel on arrival on the unit and feel at ease to challenge anyone you see who has not done the same! The nursing staff will greet you. They will keep you up-to-date and answer your questions. If you would like to speak to a doctor please let us know and we will arrange for them to meet with you.

Visiting times

Visiting times are between 10am and 8pm.

We would prefer the number of visitors to be restricted to only two at the bedside at a time. This is for health and safety and infection control reasons. We do encourage families to bring in photographs and pictures that can be placed beside the patient. Please liase with the nurse looking after the patient. In some cases we may suggest that you bring in some music that can be played to the patient. Some families find that keeping a diary is useful, especially if the patient is on NICU for a prolonged period. This can help to show changes that are not apparent on a day to day basis.

Confidentiality is a very important concern for us. We want to protect patient’s privacy and dignity at all times. We have a quiet room available so that we can give you information in private.

To further protect patient’s privacy we do not allow photographs to be taken of patients or staff. In certain circumstances we are obliged to liase with the police. In this instance we use passwords to ensure that we are speaking to authorised persons only.

Phone calls

We will answer phonecalls from a patient’s next of kin at any time of the day or night. However, we do ask that phonecalls from other relatives and friends are kept to a minimum so that nurses are not pulled away from providing the bedside care that their patients need. It is often useful to nominate a spokesperson that relatives and friends can call.

Mobile phones should not be switched on within the intensive care or high dependency areas as signals can interfere with our equipment.

Valuables

Valuable items should not be brought into the unit, as we cannot take responsibility for their safety. Ideally we like to restrict patient’s property to personal wash kit and night clothing.

Catering

The trust has a restaurant for patients, relatives and staff on the same level as the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit. A number of drink and snack dispensers are also available just outside the canteen. There are a number of sandwich and coffee shops in the main concourse as well as a newsagents, League of Friends shop and other shops. The kitchen on NICU is for patient and staff use only.