At Life Healthcare, the well-being of our patients, employees, doctors and visitors within the communities we serve is of utmost importance to us and stays a top priority.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an unparalleled impact on our way of life. We continue to support our communities throughout the staged approach to recovery with the various alert levels and associated regulations.

During the current alert level, we continue general hospital services and patient admissions for surgical and general admissions, subject to local hospital capacity, the prevalence of COVID-19 transmission in the area and any locality-specific disaster regulations. Our Doctors are responsible for managing the criteria and indications for admission of patients and will, for the safety of our patients, take all measures into account.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has moved through the various phases of lockdown, Life Healthcare has responded accordingly with safety measures to prevent the virus being brought into, or spread within our facilities. One such measure has been restrictions on visiting hours. 

In light of the current COVID-19 patient volumes in our hospitals, please take not of the following:

VISITING HOURS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE:

This is at the discretion of each hospital, dependent on the local COVID-19 situation and advice from hospital management and doctor COVID committees. Visitors are advised to contact the hospital or unit to determine the visitation permitted for the specific hospital.

COVID-19 AREAS

Regrettably, visitation in areas in which confirmed, or suspected, COVID-19 patients are being cared for remains suspended. For critically ill patients in these areas limited visitation with special permission of Hospital Management may be allowed, and in consultation with the treating doctor. Special measures will be required in such situations to protect the health of the visiting family members and hospital employees. Our nurses are sensitive to the strain on family members in such situations and will do their best to accommodate both the needs and the safety of family members. Our nurses will continue to keep family members updated on the condition of the patient and, wherever possible, will facilitate communication with patients through electronic means such as video calls.

NON COVID-19 AREAS

The general criteria for visiting, where visiting hours have not been suspended at the discretion of hospital management and COVID-19 committees based on the local COVID-19 situation, are:

• General wards: One visitor per day for a maximum of 30 minutes.
• Paediatric Wards/ICU: One parent will be permitted to sleep in with an admitted paediatric patient. The other parent will be permitted to visit for 30 minutes per day.
• Nursery and Neonatal ICU: Parents may visit together once a day. The duration of the visit will be at the discretion of the unit manager.
• Adult ICUs: One visitor per day for a maximum of 30 minutes.
• Critically ill patients: Family visitation may be allowed subject to special arrangements with the Hospital Manager.
• Confinement – partner support in theatre/labour ward: please liaise with your doctor/the hospital you have booked at for the birth of your baby and click here for further information.
• Life Rehabilitation and Life Mental Health units: Visits under supervision as determined by the Hospital Manager.

We specifically wish to acknowledge that restricted visitation can be extremely challenging for many families, particularly in the NICU, where there is immense benefit of mother-child bonding for babies born prematurely. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is a public health issue with devastating consequences of outbreaks – which necessitates as few people as possible being in contact with one another. In the NICU, prolonged visitation by all mothers increases their risk of contracting the infection from other mothers and from staff members (despite wearing of PPE) – and hence increased risk of transmitting the infection to their babies. Staff members are also at risk as they come into contact with parents who may unknowingly have the virus (being asymptomatic). The unit manager, in applying his/her discretion, has to take into account the well-being of everyone in that unit when deciding on how long mothers/fathers can stay with their baby.

All visitors are required to:

• Undergo the symptom screening check at the entrance to the facilities.
• Wear a mask covering their nose and mouth.
• Sanitise their hands on arrival and where indicated in the facility, before and after visitation.
• Comply with any other protective measures (such as protective clothing) as may be required in a particular unit and requested by the unit employees.
• Respect other visitors, patients, doctors and employees by observing appropriate social distancing.
• Not visit other areas of the hospital but leave immediately after the visit. (Visitation in the coffee shop is allowed subject to the appropriate restrictions).
• Visiting to take place between 10h00 and 19h00 only; and in accordance with the particular hospital circumstances and guidelines.

For more information on our key safety measures please view our infographic – click here.

Patients are advised to put their health first and contact their admitting doctors for more information around the current admission protocols.

We urge members of the public who are concerned that they may need COVID-19 testing, to please phone or consult with their General Practitioner or contact the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on the following support numbers: NICD WhatsApp support line - 0600 123 456 OR the NICD 24-hour hotline - 0800 029 999/ 0800 111 132. 

In the words of our President “We are in this together, and it is by working together that we will prevail.”