Hospitals told to ditch Covid visiting restrictions as NHS chief says no patient should be left alone

Hospitals have been ordered to ditch any remaining visiting restrictions put in place because of coronavirus, after the head of the NHS said no patient should have to be alone.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, wrote to trusts on Thursday on the next steps in the health service’s Covid-19 recovery plan.

National guidelines on hospital visiting rules set in March, which said visits should be accommodated for at least one hour per day, should be the “absolute minimum standard”, she said.

“However, in practice, all healthcare settings should now begin transitioning back towards their own pre-pandemic (or better) policies on inpatient visiting,” wrote Ms Pritchard.

She added that the “default position” should be “no patient having to be alone unless through their choice”.

Limits despite 'living with Covid' plan

Her comments come after The Telegraph first raised concerns that families were being restricted from visiting patients in hospitals, despite the Government’s “living with Covid” plan.

Analysis by this newspaper previously revealed that about a quarter of trusts were restricting visits in February. By April, about one in eight were still preventing loved ones seeing patients.

Speaking at Thursday’s NHS England board meeting, Ms Pritchard stressed allowing visitors and loved ones to accompany patients during appointments, “is really important to patient experience, mental health and recovery”.

She also highlighted “the benefit that clinicians can get from having the input and insight into their patient from those who know them best”.

Ms Pritchard agreed there was a need to “balance risk”, as Covid-19 is still circulating. However, she added: “Our starting point has to be: what do patients want and need, and the vast majority of inpatients will want and will need to see visitors.”

Earlier this month Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, told hospital chiefs to drop remaining restrictions, including limits on visitors, as they were limiting operational capacity.

Infection control procedures were eased as Covid cases declined, in an effort to free up more capacity to tackle record waiting lists - which have now reached 6.4 million.

Writing to trusts on Thursday, Ms Pritchard said the new guidelines should be implemented “in full… given the significant benefits this can bring to increasing capacity and reducing waiting times”.