**** NSHA Media Release
Nova Scotia Health Visitor Restrictions
- Palliative care and other patients nearing end of life*
- Patients receiving medical assistance in dying MAiD*
- Children under 18 admitted to hospital.
- Patients in intensive care units and critically ill patients in emergency departments
- Patients in labour and giving birth
- Children under 18 in outpatient settings
- Hospital inpatients*
- Patients in emergency departments
- Prenatal visits, including ultrasounds
- Outpatients who need support to receive care due to physical, intellectual, cognitive emotional conditions for (including patients arriving at the hospital for cancer care and ambulatory care clinics, appointments or procedures)
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**** IWK Release
Patient + Visitor Restrictions
Aligned with a phased provincial reopening plan and based on improving epidemiology of COVID-19 in NS, the following changes will be in effect starting Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.
There will be an increase to support people in several areas at IWK Health. These include:
- up to two support people for all adult inpatient services
- one support person for adult day surgery
- one support person for prenatal care, including prenatal ultrasound
- up to two support people for pediatric day surgery
Latest support person restrictions
There are differences in the physical layout where care is being provided. These differences impact our ability to practice appropriate physical distancing therefore we have taken a location-by-location approach to support person restrictions.
We will be screening at the door to ensure our patients are kept safe.
We must continue to minimize numbers to the health care facilities to protect patients and staff. Please make childcare arrangements for siblings and children not receiving care. Infants (12 months and younger) who are breastfeeding will be supported to come to the health centre during outpatient appointments and are allowed to remain with their mothers in the event of overnight admission.
We understand the complexity involved in implementing these changes and that some areas may have difficulty accommodating additional support people due to the need to maintain physical distancing requirements. In these cases, care teams will work with families to discuss options based on care needs. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and make additional changes as required.