Hospital to trial shorter visiting time to tackle infections

Last November, cleanliness standards at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) were condemned in a report by the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate.

Now, as part of a wider campaign to prevent the spread of infection, NHS Grampian is to reduce visiting times at four wards at the infirmary in a month-long trial.

Under the existing system, visiting times are currently set from 2:30pm to 5:00pm and from 6:30pm to 8:00pm only as a guide for visitors. But in practice visitors are essentially free to come and go as they please.

Under the scheme, visiting hours will restricted from 2pm to 4pm and from 6:30pm to 8pm. The trial will run for a month from 17 May.

A spokesman for NHS Grampian explained: "The current visiting times are there for guidance and we don't police them. The reality is that there are no standard visiting times at all. It varies from ward to ward.

"There are no visiting times, for example, in the children's hospital and many of the wards do operate pretty well open visiting throughout the day."

Helen Lemmon, from Aberdeen, who is a patient in one of the wards chosen for the trial, backed the new restrictions.

She said: "Limiting the number of visitors to each bed is a good idea as it can get noisy at times and when you are recovering it can be quite exhausting."

But Margaret Watt, the chair of the Scotland Patients' Association, criticised the trial scheme. "

Stopping our patients' relatives coming in isn't going to stop the spread of infections."