NHS Glasgow to scrap visiting hours in hospitals

Visiting hours are being scrapped at hospitals across Glasgow.

Family and friends will no longer be restricted to specific times to visit people in hospitals in the NHS Glasgow and Greater Clyde region, and instead will be able to decide on when and for how long families and friends are able to visit.

Person Centred Visiting (PCV) will be introduced across all inpatient wards in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

PCV centres on the individual needs of the patient, and related decision making will be led by the patient in partnership with those they would like to be part of the process. The model was developed following a comprehensive consultation with more than 500 patients, families and staff in June last year, and follows Scottish Government guidance to implement PCV in all health boards this year.

While the focus is on removing visiting time restrictions altogether, there will still be managed processes in place to ensure the privacy and dignity of all patients is respected at all times, and local guidelines are being developed in line with this.

Dr Margaret McGuire, Director of Nursing, at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said:

“It is really important for patients to stay in contact with family and friends over the duration of their stay and we recognise the role they play in that person’s recovery.

“Our Person Centred Visiting approach helps facilitate flexible visiting, and creates a tailored model to work with each individual patient. The new approach plays a key role within our Quality Strategy and represents a move to transform services to meet current and future health needs of people across Greater Glasgow and Clyde by putting the patient at the heart of everything we do.”