News

As a result of the current distribution of cases of COVID-19 across the Western Isles, the decision has been taken to temporarily restrict visiting in all hospitals.

Yesterday we confirmed that restricted visiting would apply to Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway and St Brendan’s Hospital on Barra. The decision has been taken today to extend restricted visiting to Uist and Barra Hospital in Benbecula. (For any queries related to visiting in Uist and Barra Hospital, please speak to Marion Henderson or James Mackay).

Until further notice, visiting will be restricted to Essential Visiting only. This means that those identified as Designated Visitors will be unable to visit until further notice.

NHS Western Isles had, up until today, been allowing one Designated Visitor for each inpatient for the duration of their stay in hospital.

Essential visits will still be permitted. These include but are not limited to:

• a birth partner supporting a woman during hospital visits
• for a person receiving end-of-life care
• to support someone with a mental health issue such as dementia; a learning disability; or autism where not being present would cause the patient to be distressed .
• to accompany a child in hospital.

Essential Visits will be made by pre-arranged appointments to ensure the number of people in the clinical area at any one time is limited to maintain a safe physical distance. We aim to be person-centred, however we cannot guarantee you will be provided with your personal choice of visiting time.

NHS Western Isles will continue to promote Virtual Visiting.