Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) is adjusting its visitation policy due the Omicron variant.
While the hospital altered its policies last month, these further adjustments take into account the continued trend of increasing local COVID-19 cases and the variant’s transmissibility.
Effectively immediately, admitted patients will be permitted one designated visitor (who plays an essential role as a caregiver as determined by the patient and care team).
“Given the transmissibility of the Omicron variant and the impact it’s having on the community, GBGH is further limiting visitation,” hospital president and CEO Gail Hunt said.
Hunt said that while it wasn’t an easy decision, the ongoing safety of patients and staff remain a paramount concern.
“The unfortunate, but necessary, next step is restricting visitation until we see a significant downward trend in cases. We continuously evaluate visitation and will once again lift some restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so.”
But there remain exceptions to the visitation policy in the case of a palliative/actively dying patient. Women giving birth are also permitted one visitor for as long as they require assistance.
The hospital has adopted an appeal process for the visitation policy, which is initiated by contacting the patient’s care team. That person will then bring the request to the appropriate hospital staff for a decision.
For outpatient services (i.e. Ambulatory Care, Diagnostic Imaging, Day Surgery) and the Emergency department, GBGH continues to permit only one essential support person per patient based on meeting the following criteria:
- Pediatric patients – i.e. children under 18 (one guardian permitted with child)
- Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care staff supervising a patient
- Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC) staff guarding an inmate
- Language barrier (translation required)
- Mental health/competency/confusion challenges
- Palliative
Designated visitors and essential support persons must be vaccinated and show proof of immunization, as well as identification, prior to being granted entry to the hospital.
They will also be screened and anyone who screens positive for COVID-19 symptoms will not be able to visit.
In exceptional circumstances (such as a support person for a woman in labour, a parent/guardian of a child in the Emergency department or a palliative/end of life patient), a visitor who screens positive for symptoms will be reviewed by GBGH’s infection prevention and control practitioner or hospital coordinator prior to entry.
All visitors must also comply with hand hygiene practices, wear a hospital-provided mask for the duration of their visit and follow physical distancing guidelines.
Visitors may also be asked to wear additional personal-protective equipment as determined by the care team and based on a patient's condition.
For more information on the guidelines which are subject to changed based on the pandemic’s status, click here.
