Information for visitors

* Last updated Monday 3 February 2025

On Monday 8 July 2024, visiting hours changed across all University Hospitals of Derby and Burton sites, following changes in national regulation from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) >, and feedback from patients, visitors and staff.

We recognised we can deliver more compassionate patient-centred care and better experiences by changing our visiting hours so that you can visit your loved ones in our care at times that are flexible and fit around your life commitments.

Your support and presence are essential to the health, wellbeing and in some cases, recovery of patients in our care. With this new change, patients can see the people they want to see at times that are less restricted.


Visitors' Charter

Our Visitors' Charter sets out what behaviours and commitments patients and visitors can expect from us, and what we expect in return. Read a simple version at bottom of the page, or download the full visitors' charter below.

Download UHDB Visitors Charter A4 [pdf] 468KB


General wards and high dependency units (HDU)

Visiting hours are from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week for general wards and high dependency units.

We restrict visiting to two visitors per patient, but in some circumstances additional visitors may be permitted following discussion with the nurse in charge.

Some departments and wards will have different visiting hours and rules to ensure patient safety, care and experience is prioritised.


The wards below have open, 24-hour visiting:

  • Medical Assessment Unit at Royal Derby Hospital
  • Ward 2 Florence Nightingale Community Hospital
  • Macmillan Unit Royal Derby Hospital
  • Intensive Care Units at Royal Derby Hospital


Day case surgery and elective admission lounges

Day case surgery, sometimes called day surgery, means an operation or surgical procedure that does not involve an overnight stay in hospital. Elective admissions lounges are areas where surgical patients report to on the day of planned surgery.

Due to limited space, and to prepare patients for theatre in a timely manner, access is not generally possible for family or carers to accompany the patient. However, this can be considered for visitors accompanying patients with vulnerability issues, such as sensory impairment, learning disability, dementia and other cognitive impairments or mental health conditions, on a case-by-case basis following discussion with the nurse in charge.


Visiting in Maternity

Labour wards/birth centres at Queen's Hospital Burton or Royal Derby Hospital sites: women and birthing people can have two support people 24 hours a day.

Postnatal wards: partners or one birthing support person are welcome to stay 24 hours a day following the birth. Siblings of the baby are welcome to visit at any time.

Visiting for all others is from 8am to 8pm, and includes up to two people per bed (excluding partners or birthing support person). 


Visiting children and young people

Children's Emergency Department (CED) and Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU): due to limited space in these areas it is requested that the child should be accompanied by one parent or carer only. This will obviously depend on individual circumstances and can be discussed with the nurse in charge. It is requested that siblings do not attend departments as visitors but, in extraordinary circumstances, this can also be discussed with the nurse in charge.

Neonatal intensive care and Neonatal Unit: siblings, parents and grandparents can visit at any time, 24 hours a day. For any other visitors, visiting is restricted to 3pm to 8pm, but if reasonable adjustment is required, please discuss with nurse in charge.

Paediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU): two parents may attend at any time and siblings visiting must be discussed with the nurse in charge.

For all other inpatient wards: two parents or carers may visit at any time and one parent may stay overnight. Please discuss visiting by siblings with the nurse in charge.

Outpatients: two parents or carers may attend with the child or young person.


Inside our hospitals we care for vulnerable patients so all visitors and patients should;

  • Regularly clean hands with hand sanitiser or wash with soap and water.
     
  • Refrain from eating or drinking in clinical areas.
     
  • Follow any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) guidance as instructed by staff while they are on hospital premises.


Face masks

  • If you are visiting for compassionate reasons and are displaying symptoms, you must wear a mask, please inform a member of staff prior to visiting.
     
  • If you are visiting a patient who has a suspected or confirmed respiratory infection, you must wear a mask but will be guided by clinical staff upon arrival. 


Masks are available on request and sanitiser outlets are located across our hospitals. Staff will advise you on areas where you need to wear a mask if you are not sure.


Please do not enter our hospitals if;

  • You have had any of the following symptoms in the last 10 days: A new continuous dry cough, a high temperature, a loss of or change in your normal sense of taste or smell, cold like symptoms (coughing, sneezing, sore throat, runny nose), diarrhoea or vomiting.
     
  • You must not visit if you have been in contact with a known Covid-19, Influenza or diarrhoea or vomiting case in the past 10 days.


Contacting our wards

We understand that it is important to contact your loved ones while they are in hospital. Where possible, we encourage relatives and friends to call the patient directly or have a video call. Our sites have free WiFi which supports web browsing and instant messaging, allowing you stay in touch.

If you want to contact the ward for updates, we would be grateful if one person from the family can be the nominated contact, who then keeps the rest of the family and friends informed. This helps to keep our phone lines as clear as possible for other families who need updates.

We know that it’s important for our patients to see family and friends but please make use of the other options to stay connected with your loved one > during their stay in hospital.


Our teams now use mobile devices to document care

We now use Nervecentre, a new system using mobile technology to document patient care, this means our colleagues may use a mobile phone or tablet while caring for you. This is part of our work to make improvements, providing digital solutions supporting our teams to deliver exceptional care together.

Visitors Charter

Our promise to visitors

Communication: We will always be polite and courteous to our patients and their visitors.

Environment: We will do our best to create a calm and peaceful environment to enable patients to get ample rest. We will respect the time between patients and visitors and will only interrupt if necessary.

Carers: We will support patient’s carers or relatives to be involved in care and decision making with consent of the patient. John’s campaign supports carers of patients with dementia and can be adopted for patients at the end of life or with any disabilities - please ask the nursing staff if you would like more information.

Nutrition: We will protect mealtimes by restricting non-urgent activities until mealtime has finished. We will encourage our patients to eat and drink well and offer our support where needed and support you to enjoy mealtimes with them or support you to help them to eat and drink well and safely.

Concerns and compliments: We will listen to any concerns our patients have and act accordingly - we want to get things right for all of our patients at the time of the concerns arising.

Infection control: We will do all that we can to protect patients from infection; on occasions this may result in restricting visiting or moving patients to an allocated side room. We will follow infection prevention and control procedures including cleaning our hands in-between patient contact.


Visitors' promise to us

Communication: We ask that you are polite and respectful towards our staff, visitors and patients. Will not tolerate abuse or harassment of our staff. Anyone displaying aggressive, abusive or racist behaviour will be asked to leave the clinical area or ward and in some circumstances, visiting access to that individual may be withdrawn.

Environment: Please adhere to the visitor numbers and visiting times allowed in each clinical area or ward – this may vary from one area to another based on local risk assessment. Please check our website for latest visiting restrictions. Please keep phones on silent and keep noise to a reasonable level. Please understand that from time-to-time you may be asked to briefly leave the ward or area for us to perform essential care and interventions and if a ward round, or patient handover (7am and 7pm) is taking place, you may be asked to leave the bay temporarily to maintain patient confidentiality. Please talk to the nurse in charge before bringing children in to visit.

Carers: Please let nursing staff know if you wish to be involved in supporting us to care for your relative or friend, we welcome your input.

Nutrition: Please let us know if the patient has any special dietary requirements, allergies or preferences we may not be aware of.

Concerns and compliments: If you have any questions, worries, concerns or compliments please talk to the nurse in charge – we welcome your feedback. If your concerns are not resolved with the nurse in charge, please ask for the matron's contact details and discuss your concerns with them.

Infection control: If you are unwell especially if you have diarrhoea, vomiting or flu like symptoms - do not visit until you have been clear of symptoms for 48 hours. If you are unsure, please call the ward before you visit. For advice and updates regarding visiting restrictions please see the Trust website before visiting. Like staff, we ask that you clean your hands on entering and leaving the ward. Alcohol hand sanitiser dispensers are available near entry and exit points.
 

Ward information and signs

Over the coming weeks, ward information boards and signage will be sent to replace existing boards at Royal Derby Hospital, and new boards and signage will be displayed at Queen's Hospital Burton and community sites, Florence Nightingale Community Hospital, Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital and Samuel Johnson Community Hospital.

For urgent queries about this policy and the changes, please contact Katherine Golisti via katherine.golisti@nhs.net. 

Smoking

Smoking tobacco and cigarettes at any of our hospitals is not allowed.  This applies to all patients, visitors and staff.

Whilst you are here, please do not smoke anywhere inside or outside our hospital buildings. 

If you are a patient at UHDB and you would like support to stop smoking, please speak to your clinical team. We can also talk to you about the options for helping you if you need to stay in hospital.
 

Get free support to quit

Call the free Smokefree National Helpline to speak to a trained adviser:

Telephone: 0300 123 1044


All lines are open Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm and Saturday and Sunday 11am to 4pm.

You can also find all the information and free resources you need to help you quit on the NHS Smokefree website.

Get information to help you stop smoking (opens in new window) >

Mealtimes

We understand that mealtimes are important. The 'protected mealtime' service is a period over lunch time when all non-urgent activity on the ward, including visiting, stops (all essential and urgent care needs will continue to be met).

This is done to prevent unnecessary interruptions to mealtimes and enable the healthcare team to be available to help serve food and give assistance to patients who require it. It also creates a more relaxed and calm atmosphere, giving patients time to socialise and enjoy their meal with fewer distractions on the ward.

If you normally visit at mealtimes in order to help or encourage your relative/close one to eat, we are happy for you to continue to do this. Please arrange this with the nurse in charge.