Effective November 7, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) is eliminating active screening of all visitors and patients and opening the Atrium entrance to public use.
All patients and visitors to the health centre will no longer participate in active screening and instead they will be responsible to self-screen upon entry and don a hospital-issued mask. Public entrances remain Main, Simcoe and Atrium. Some exceptions apply, for example screening remains in place for patients at triage or registration as per pre-pandemic practices.
RVH also recently eased visiting restrictions. There is now no limit to the number of visitors a patient can receive in a day, although no more than two are allowed at the same time. There is no maximum time limit for a visit, if it occurs within visiting hours. Visitors are no longer required to pre-book their visits.
There are some exceptions, patients attending RVH’s Emergency Department are allowed only one visitor and only in designated room spaces and not in waiting rooms unless deemed necessary by the clinical team. Birthing Unit patients visiting triage may also only have one support person join them and must wait in the waiting room, until admission.
As a reminder, visitors do not need to provide proof of vaccination. Masking, however, remains mandatory. Visitors must always wear their hospital-issued masks while inside the health centre, use hand sanitizer frequently throughout their visit, and abide by physical distancing and other COVID-19 precautions.
Visiting hours remain the same: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Child and Youth Mental Health hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Patients attending an after-hour appointment at RVH should use the Atrium entrance.
“We are delighted to be in a position where we can allow our patients more visitors and more time to visit. While we have eliminated active screening we depend on members of the community to self-screen and, if they meet any of the criteria, to rebook their appointment or visit at another time when they are well. We are asking the public to help us keep TEAM RVH and our patients safe,” says Gail Hunt, RVH president and CEO. “While we have made these change, we must continue to monitor the situation, keeping an eye on case numbers and hospitalizations, and be ready to amend our policies as needed.”