Extension of special visiting arrangement to all acute hospitals
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Following the extension of the special visiting arrangement to some acute and specialist hospitals last week, the Hospital Authority (HA) spokesperson announced today (August 25) that the same arrangement will be extended to cover the remaining eight acute hospitals from next Tuesday (August 31) (See details in the Appendix).
"As with the special visiting arrangement implemented in acute and specialist hospitals last week, visitors are required to have completed two-dose COVID-19 vaccination for more than 14 days, so as to minimise the infection risks of patients and staff in the hospitals. Thanks to the efforts of the hospitals and ward colleagues, and with the co-operation of patients' family members, the special visiting arrangement has been smooth so far and can be similarly implemented in the remaining eight acute hospitals," the spokesperson said.
With due consideration to the usually shorter length of stay of acute hospital patients, the special visiting arrangement is only applicable to patients admitted for more than one week. Ward staff will schedule the visits and begin calling the patients' family members in the next few days. Family members are not required to contact the wards themselves. One or two visits will be arranged for a family member in a designated time slot each week in keeping with the operation of individual wards.
"Visitors can scan the Hospital Visit QR code, which can be found in the HA webpage and the mobile app 'HA Go', to fill in the health declaration form within 24 hours before the visit and show the QR code generated by the system to the ward staff," the spokesperson reminded.
The HA hopes the patients' family members can understand and comply with the visiting arrangements under the current epidemic situation. All hospitals will continue to facilitate compassionate and video visiting as far as practicable.
The spokesperson reiterated that all visitors entering public hospitals are required to comply with the infection control measures, such as wearing surgical masks, temperature checking and filling in health declaration forms. In addition, visitors are encouraged to scan the "LeaveHomeSafe" venue QR code displayed at all public hospitals for a complete personal record of their visits.
Ends/Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Issued at HKT 16:30
Issued at HKT 16:30
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