PATIENTS and their loved ones will be able to see each other from Monday as visiting rules at Oxfordshire hospitals are set to be relaxed.

Hospitals run by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust including the John Radcliffe in Headington and Horton hospital in Banbury will allow one visitor for one hour per patient once a day.

From Monday, one hour slots will be booked in advance by staff on the ward, who will contact named next of kin to arrange the appointment. 

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Slots will only be available between Monday and Friday. 

Some patients will have different arrangements, such as women in labour, child patients, patients at the end of their life and patients with learning difficulties. 

Visiting is still not allowed on wards where people with Covid-19 are being treated and patients are expected to attend the outpatient departments unaccompanied unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

Patients attending the Emergency Departments and Emergency Assessment Units are also expected to be unaccompanied unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

Sam Foster, Chief Nursing Officer at the Trust, said: “We are incredibly grateful to our patients and their families for being so understanding during this challenging time.  We recognise how extremely difficult the past few months have been for people who couldn’t visit, and we have missed the support they can provide to their loved ones.

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“Now, in line with updated Government guidance, we will follow the ‘rule of one’ and allow one visitor per patient for one hour at a time. We will have measures in place to keep our patients and our visitors safe. This may mean that your experience is a little different but this is to make sure that patients, visitors and staff are kept safe.  Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.”

Full details including time slots, full guidance, and what to expect when you are visiting, go to www.ouh.nhs.uk.