COLCHESTER Hospital has reiterated its stance on visiting patients amid fresh concerns about the spread of Covid-19.

Visiting restrictions still remain in place at the hospital to keep patients, visitors and staff safe and stop the spread of Covid-19.

Patients may have one visitor to their ward for one hour a day after they have been in hospital for 24 hours, the hospital says.

This visit must be pre-booked with ward teams in advance and visits can only be supported in the ward.

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Chief nurse Giles Thorpe, has now urged residents to respect the rules.

He said: “While a patient is on a ward, we can safely monitor their condition and manage the risk of infections being brought into a ward environment by limiting the number of visitors they have.

“We know how much patients and their loved ones value visiting and we understand the ongoing restrictions are difficult.

“That’s why we were keen to reintroduce some visiting as safely and as quickly as possible, but we now need everyone’s help to keep visiting open. Our visiting policy is under constant review.

“We all have our part to play in preventing the spread of the virus in our hospitals so we can keep visiting going.”