The continued actions taken by Weston General Hospital mean that the hospital is now in a position to safely accept patients into its A&E department from today (Thursday 18 June 2020). This is the final step to re-open the hospital to new patients.
The A&E department is open between the usual hours of 8am-10pm every day. In addition, all clinics have restarted and the hospital continues to receive patients who, due to the temporary closure, were initially admitted to our neighbouring hospitals for their care and treatment.
Patients who have an appointment scheduled from today (Thursday 18 June 2020) onwards do not need to contact the hospital to confirm their appointment; they should attend their appointment as planned. We are continuing to contact patients whose appointment was cancelled during the temporary closure to reschedule their appointment.
Dr William Oldfield, medical director at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Ensuring the safety of patients and staff at the hospital remains our number one priority and this has been at the heart of our careful planning to re-open. If there were any concerns about the safety of our patients or staff we would not be taking this step.
“From today we are asking our patients to come to their appointments as planned. In addition, our A&E is open again from 8am-10pm every day for emergencies.
“The strict criteria we put in place to ensure we can safely restart services have been met; deep cleaning has been carried out at the hospital and appropriate zoning and social distancing measures are in place in line with national guidance. All current inpatients have been tested for coronavirus infection with no new cases in the hospital’s non-COVID wards since the temporary measures were introduced. Staff have also been tested, at least twice, or completed recommended isolation periods, to confirm they do not have coronavirus infection.
“We have appropriate levels of Personal Protective Equipment available and this is being used in line with national guidance. In addition, anyone coming to our hospital will see our staff wearing face masks and will themselves need to wear a face covering, in line with recent guidance for all hospitals.
“The re-opening to new patients has only been possible thanks to our fantastic, committed and hard-working staff who have done an exceptional job in challenging circumstances. We’re also incredibly grateful to our partner organisations, who have supported us and ensured patients have continued to have access to the care or treatment they need whilst the temporarily closure has been in place.
“We would like to thank our patients, their families and carers and our local community for their patience and understanding as we have worked to re-open their hospital.”