Restrictions on visiting loved ones in hospital to be eased

At the moment, only essential visiting is allowed, but from Monday, every patient will be able to have one visitor identified to visit them.

Director of nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals, Sarah Horan (pictured) said: “The importance of support from family members and loved ones to people in hospital cannot be overstated. Visiting brings comfort to both the person in hospital and their family, friends or carers.

“We know that this family support has a positive impact on the nutrition, healing, recovery and overall quality of care of our patients.

"Given this, family support should be a fundamental part of the care of a person in hospital and we have worked hard to ensure that we have appropriate infection prevention and control measures in place to enable this. If you are visiting our sites, please help us to keep your loved ones, our patients, as safe as possible.”

People are asked not to visit if they have symptoms of Covid-19 or have come into contact with someone with the virus. Facemasks must be worn at all times, if you are able to, and visitors are asked to ensure they have had both vaccinations, if eligible, and to make use of the twice-weekly lateral flow tests available to everyone in Scotland who do not have symptoms.

Visitors are also asked to follow any instructions on signage or from members of staff.