Television presenter Kirstie Allsopp has criticised the visiting policies of Welsh hospitals, claiming NHS bosses have "no business" still making use of the "wicked" restrictions introduced during the pandemic. The co-presenter of Channel 4 show Location, Location, Location said that Welsh hospitals were "particularly bad in this respect".
Allsop has become renowned for her fierce opposition to Covid-19 lockdowns which she said had affected the mental health of young people and revealed a "mealy-mouthed gutlessness in people". Writing in the Telegraph she said: "Restrictions which limit the time you can be with a patient to an hour a day, by appointment, and at a time which is set by the hospital are frankly wicked and the fact that some hospitals are still sticking to these rules is appalling.
"Welsh hospitals are particularly bad in this respect; one lovely contributor to our show told me he believed that the strain put on his elderly mother by being the only person who could go to see his father had killed her. Making the appointment, rushing to be on time for the measly hour a day set by the hospital, and then doing it all again the next day was just too much for her."
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She added: "One day in summer I was filming in Manchester and I was on the telephone talking to a journalist about these restrictions. When I returned to the crew I apologised to my director for my absence and explained what I'd been doing, out of the blue he began to cry and told me that his grandmother had recently died alone in hospital because of this type of restriction in Wales."
While health boards in Wales have been gradually relaxing hospital visiting restrictions they do still exist. Visits at hospitals must, on occasion, be pre-arranged to enable staff to maintain social distancing on wards.
This week Swansea Bay University Health Board confirmed that masks are being reintroduced in all areas of hospitals as respiratory viruses, including coronavirus, are circulating on most if not all wards. It said there has been been "a big jump in a range of respiratory infections" every day rising from 31 confirmed cases on December 17 to 66 cases by December 22.
Across Wales the number of people being treated specifically for Covid-19 in Welsh hospitals is the highest it has been since mid-July. On Tuesday, December 20, of the 538 patients in hospital with "confirmed" Covid, 72 of them were being actively treated for the virus – the most since July 22 (77 patients).
According to latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey there has only been a very slight rise in Wales' overall infection rate. For the week ending December 8 the estimated number of people testing positive for Covid was 57,600 which equates to 1.89% of the population or around one in 55 people. The previous week the figure stood at 55,900 infections which is 1.84% or around one in 55 people.
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