New flexible visiting times for Torbay Hospital

People staying in hospitals across Torbay and South Devon and their visitors will soon benefit from more flexible visiting times.

From this week (Sept 9), people visiting patients in some Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust hospital wards will be able to visit between 10am and 8pm.

Known as ‘open visiting’, the change in policy will bring many benefits for people staying in hospital, including wellbeing and emotional support, improved communication with staff, support with nutrition and hydration and a more familiar environment to recover in.

There are also many benefits for their visitors, who can feel more involved in care planning and treatment and have greater flexibility to fit visiting around personal and work commitments.

Nicola McMinn, Chief Nurse at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to introduce open visiting across our ward areas and we are excited to see the benefits this will bring to our patients and their family and friends who visit.

"A number of our ward areas already have open visiting in place, which has been very successful and received positive feedback. We hope to see this continue as we introduce these times to more areas.”

Hospitals managed by Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust include Torbay Hospital, Brixham Community Hospital, Newton Abbot Community Hospital, Dawlish Community Hospital and Totnes Community Hospital.

Although the organisation’s visiting policy has been updated to reflect these new hours, core elements remain unchanged including exceptions to normal hours and number of visitors. Some specialist wards will need to keep their current times due to the service provided.

With longer hours, there are times when visitors may need to be asked to leave the ward for treatments, care and tests. Visitors are also expected to enhance mealtimes by supporting nutrition and hydration intake and not disrupt or delay these.