Visitor information for relatives, friends, and carers

You are welcome to phone the ward for an update, but we can only provide information if we have the patient’s permission.

We recommend nominating one person to be the patient’s main point of contact.

They can then update the rest of the patient’s family and friends. As personal care, doctors’ rounds, and medication rounds are done in the morning, we suggest that the patient’s nominated representative phones after lunch for updates.

Please be assured that the patient’s doctor or nurse will contact their representative if there are any concerns.

Many of our wards have iPads and we can help patients to connect with friends and family via virtual visits.

If your relative/friend is in hospital with Covid-19 and you are unable to visit, we would encourage you to keep in touch with them in other ways. For example, you could send them a message or request a song for them on hospital radio.

The only exceptions to this are if the patient:

• is at the end of their life
• has a learning disability
• has dementia
• is a child.

At Hampshire Hospitals, we have a hospital liaison team for adults with learning disabilities. They can help your relative/friend understand what is going to happen and support them to make decisions about their care.

The team can also help the hospital staff to meet your relative/friend’s health requirements and make changes for their personal needs.

If you would like to speak to a member of the team, please ask your loved one’s nurse to contact them.

Alternatively, you can email them direct at learning.disability@hhft.nhs.uk or telephone them on 01256 319892 or 01256 313096.

For further information for people with learning disabilities, please click here.

Hampshire Hospitals’ dementia team provides support to patients, relatives, and carers of people with dementia who are admitted to hospital.

The Alzheimer’s Society produce a booklet called ‘This is me’ where you can help your loved one to list their likes, dislikes, and interests. This allows us to tailor our care to their preferences.

To find out more about the ‘This is me’ booklet, click here. If your relative/friend already has a completed copy of the ‘This is me’ booklet, please make sure the ward team are able to access it.

John's campaign

Hampshire Hospitals is proud to support John’s Campaign. It is an organisation that promotes:

• the right for carers to stay with people with dementia
• the right of people with dementia to be supported by their family carer.

To find out more about John's campaign, click here.

The palliative care team are dedicated to the care of people affected by life-limiting illness.

They help to manage the physical, emotional, spiritual, family, and financial worries that might impact individuals as a result. Their aim is to improve patients’ quality of life.

For further information about the palliative care team, please click here.

Being in hospital can be a worrying and stressful experience. Chaplains offer a compassionate presence supporting patients, families, visitors, and staff during times of emotional and spiritual crisis.

They are trained to provide pastoral care, and spiritual and emotional support to people of all faiths, as well as to those who have no religious beliefs. Like all NHS staff, chaplains are bound by strict rules of confidentiality. If you would like to speak to a chaplain, please ask a member of staff to contact them on your behalf.

Alternatively, you can contact the chaplaincy team yourself:

• via email at chaplaincy@hhft.nhs.uk
• by telephoning the hospital switchboard on 01256 473202 (Basingstoke patients) or 01962 863535 (Andover and Winchester patients) and asking for the duty chaplain.

Each hospital has a chapel, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are also multi-faith prayer rooms with washing facilities on our Basingstoke and Winchester hospital sites.

Patients’ mealtimes are protected from unnecessary or inappropriate intrusions or interruptions. This helps to provide an eating environment that is both pleasant and unhurried.

Whenever necessary, nursing staff assist patients with their meals. However, if your relative/friend needs help at mealtimes, you are more than welcome to come in to assist them.

Please tell the nurse in charge if you would like to come in outside of visiting times to help your relative/friend with their meals.

Please also check with the ward staff before bringing any food onto the ward for the patient.

Information about each of our sites to assist with how to get here, including directions, car parking, our site map and more can be found by clicking on the relevant site below:

• Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital
• Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester
• Andover War Memorial Hospital

Concessionary parking is available to relatives and carers if their family member is an inpatient or requires end of life care for more than one week. Please speak to the ward clerk if you would like to register for concessionary parking.

Whilst at any of our hospitals, you are able to access a range of facilities including our restaurants, on-site cafes, vending machines and toilets.

To find out more about our facilities including opening times of our restaurants, please click here.

Security operates across all hospital sites 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

When departments and wards are not in use or visiting hours are not operating we may lock doors to restrict access. Other areas such as children’s wards and maternity may have access restricted at all times and you may need to request entry via the door intercom at the entrance to the specific department. Do not allow access to others through these secure doors, close them behind you and politely ask others to request entry via the intercom or to speak to staff themselves. 

To read more about security at Hampshire Hospitals, please click here.