More than 3,500 visitors were welcomed on to wards at Walsall Manor Hospital in the first two weeks of restrictions being relaxed. And visitors are being asked to take part in a survey to give their feedback on the process and suggest improvements.

A booking system has been set up and one visitor per patient per day is currently allowed to come into the hospital and stay for up to an hour with the patient.

All visitors have to report to the Welcome Hub in the main entrance of the hospital in Pleck Road to collect their visiting pass and are strongly advised to have taken a Covid-19 test (Lateral Flow Test) before they attend the hospital, showing their negative result.

Andrew Rice, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Patient Experience Manager said: “We started to welcome visitors back on 17 May and in our first two weeks we saw a total of 3,534 visitors to the hospital, that’s a daily  average of 171.

“Looking over our figures it seems 1pm is the most popular time to visit and Ward 29 has been the busiest. And Thursdays are the day most prefer to come in, with Mondays the least popular choice.

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who contacted us in those first couple of weeks for their understanding as we established these new arrangements; particularly as we are all still trying to keep each other as safe as possible in an ongoing pandemic. We’ve had some lovely feedback from visitors and we know it has made a world of difference to our patients to be reunited with their loved ones and friends.

“We’d also like to thank visitors for taking their Covid tests either before attending or via the test bus at the hospital. We gave out just under 600 testing kits in the first couple of weeks. It is vitally important that we continue to work together to minimise the risk of transmission as an increase in case numbers will mean arrangements have to be reviewed.”

The team has set up as short survey here https://forms.office.com/r/0nhkLATcWM for visitors to give their feedback on the process.

Andrew added: “We want to hear from as many as possible to find out what works well or where any improvements can be made and comments and suggestions are invaluable to us.”