Patient and Family Information

There is lots of information that can help patients and families navigate their way through hospice care. We have produced a range of fact sheets covering helpful topics from planning your future care to dealing with breathlessness. You will also find over 400 health and care videos covering a wide range of health topics.

Advice for Patients, families and visitors about Coronavirus

Please do not visit the hospice inpatient unit or outpatient department if you have any of the following symptoms:

• A new continuous cough OR
• High temperature (37.8 degrees centigrade or higher)
• A loss of or change to your sense of smell or taste
• You have any symptoms of coronavirus (a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste)
• You’ve tested positive for coronavirus – this means you have coronavirus
• You live with someone who has symptoms or has tested positive
• Someone in your support bubble has symptoms or has tested positive
• You’re told by NHS Test and Trace that you’ve been in contact with a person with coronavirus

If you have any of these symptoms, please stay at home and self-isolate for 14 days. If your condition worsens please call NHS 111 for advice.

For the most recent information visit: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Our visiting policy on the Inpatient Unit is currently to have no more than 2 members of the patient’s immediate family visiting at any one time with only 4 nominated visitors per patient for the whole admission, ideally from no more than 2 households. Where a patient has no immediate family members, they may wish to nominate the same two close friends instead.

We have now been advised by infection prevention to ask all visitors to put on a face mask or covering to wear during their visit. Please bring your own facemask and if this is a homemade cloth mask please take it home to wash at 60 degrees. Use a clean mask for all your visits. Advice on how to wear or make a face mask is available at: GOV.UK/how-to-wear-and-make-a-cloth-face-covering

Please try to limit your visit, where possible to no more than 2 hours at a time. This will help our staff and our housekeeping teams to keep vigilant in infection prevention precautions. Our normal hours for visitors are between 11:00 and 21:00.

Patient’s own pets may visit by prior arrangement with the senior nurse; however, like humans they need to be kept 2m distance for all other patients, visitors and staff.

As with the guidance above if you or anyone in your family or anyone you are in contact with has symptoms of Coronovirus or has tested positive, are required to self isolate please do not visit the inpatient unit.

If you or a member of your family are being visited by one of the Rowcroft community teams:

Prior to your visit we will be asking if you or a member of your family has any symptoms of Coronovirus or have tested positive, or are required to self isolate. As an alternative to visiting you at home we can offer video/telephone assessment, review and support. If you do require a visit, when the team member visits they will be required to wear full personal protective equipment, this includes a face mask, gloves and plastic apron. They will remove this at the end of the visit and place it in a bag for you to kindly dispose of. We would be grateful if you could provide hand washing facilities. We are doing this through the guidance provided by the government and to ensure we keep everyone as safe as possible.

In addition, patients being cared for in their own home will be asked prior to a visit by Rowcroft staff or volunteers if they have any of the above symptoms. This is to protect you and other patients and our people from potential infection.

All our services are currently ‘business as usual’; however, we are keeping up to date daily with Public Health England guidance and will post further information as needed.

Please remember the single most important way to prevent spread of coronavirus is by effective hand washing with soap and water. If visiting our inpatient or outpatient department we will ask you to wash your hands before entering clinical areas.

All visitors are now requested to wear a facemask during visits. Please wherever possible bring your own face mask with you and wear a clean facemask for each visit.