Hospitals begin rolling out 24/7 visiting hours

Some Australian hospitals are set to scrap visiting hours altogether and welcome visitors for patients at all hours of the day and night.

If you’ve ever had a loved one in hospital, you’ll know nurses and doctors are usually pretty strict when it comes to letting patients rest and get better. It can be hard, especially when all you want to do is show support for your loved one.

According to an exclusive report in the Daily Telegraph, three Sydney hospitals, the Royal Prince Alfred, Canterbury Hospital and Concord Hospital, are set to trail a 24/7 visiting hour policy, with wards also set to be upgraded to facilitate visitors who stay overnight. It is reported the new initiative could be rolled out across other public hospitals over the next few months.

Brad Hazzard, Health Minister for New South Wales, told the publication the new visitor policy could soon be rolled out to hundreds of hospitals across the state.

“We are trialling it but as health minister my intuition is this trial will be a massive plus for patients — staff are happy and patients are happy,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “There are more than 200 public hospitals across NSW and I can see this rolling out to all of those public hospitals.”

He added it was “unrealistic” for visits to be restricted and pointed out there was evidence to suggest patients do better when they’re surrounded by their friends and family. It is thought a patient will be limited to one or two visitors at a time and friends, as well as relatives, will be welcome to visit.

It was a hot topic of conversation on Monday morning’s episode of Sunrise. Host Samantha Armytage questioned whether patients were in hospital with a purpose of resting. Guest Ron Wilson partly agreed.

Several Sydney hospitals are trialling 24/7 visiting hours. 🏥

Good idea? Let us know what you think! pic.twitter.com/ke6mSJtMvt

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 17, 2018

“I think that’s partially the reason for it. I’ve become something of an expert at being a visitor to hospital over recent years,” he explained. “There are ways in which the family of a patient can certainly help and one of those areas is in the moral support of the patient obviously, but also in feeding.

“Often when food is delivered to a room and the patient is left to get on with it. Sometimes they simply can’t and it’s worthwhile for a patient’s family to be there helping.”

Wilson also noted that in some cases, patients can simply get in the way of what he described as “professional” and “skilled” staff. He also noted that it could cause security problems.

“We have a problem with security in hospitals now and I think that will leave the security issue open again,” he said.

Read more: Melbourne hospital releases disturbing footage of attacks on staff

Earlier this year, staff from the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Victoria were forced to release disturbing footage detailing the horrific violence nurses, doctors and staff have been subjected to at the hands of patients. In fact, violent attacks have increased by 85 per cent over the past four years, with drug addiction being a contributing factor to the rise.

While patients are sometimes to blame, staff noted relatives can also become violent towards staff. Armytage noted that it could also put added pressure on nursing, while another guest said visiting hours should be increased between 6am and 10pm, but there should still be an overnight period where visitors aren’t welcome. She noted the world has changed and working hours aren’t what they used to be.

‘Having that flexibility as a patient, I think they want to see their loved ones, it’s a better transition home if they can understand the care that’s taking place and I think it’s a great move, actually,” Kath said.

What do you think? Should hospital visiting hours be scrapped altogether? Would you like the flexibility to see a loved one whenever you felt like it?