Hospital visiting hours in Scotland to be extended under trial

HOSPITAL visiting hours are to be extended in Scotland as part of a trial aimed at making them more “user friendly,” it was announced today.

Five health boards – Tayside, Fife, Forth Valley, Dumfries and Galloway and Greater Glasgow and Clyde – are to extend hours to between 11am to 8pm.

Health Secretary Alex Neil has implemented the pilot after listening to feedback from patients and visiting Ninewells Hospital in Dundee which will see five wards trialling the extended hours.

“By making visiting hours fit better with modern day working patterns, it will be easier for family and friends to visit patients, which in many cases will help to speed up recovery, as support from family and friends is a crucial part of the healing process,” Mr Neil said.

“It will also take some of the pressure off staff, as visitors will be spread out more throughout the day, rather than being restricted to a couple of hours.

“Over the past few months I have been speaking to patients and staff across the country to get a better idea for how they want their NHS to run. I want to use this feedback to improve the NHS and make it more user friendly. You own the NHS and you should get your say in how you are treated when you are in hospital.”

Visitors to five wards in Ninewells Hospital can now see patients during nine hours of each day, compared to the previous visiting times of 3pm to 8pm.

The trial is running in a number of wards including care of the elderly, acute surgical receiving unit and a neurosurgery ward for three months. It will then be assessed and NHS Tayside hopes to extend the pilot to other areas within the hospital.

The move was welcomed by Theresa Fyffe, RCN Scotland Director.

“There are real benefits for patients, if that is what both they and their family want, so we support the announcement today that flexible visiting times are being piloted in a number of hospital wards,” she said.