Visiting
Visiting hours
General visiting is 8am to 8pm every day. Several units are more open than that, a few are tighter, and the patient's own wishes come before all of it.
Hours by unit
These apply at all three hospitals. Clinics and laboratories keep their own opening hours, listed on the care centers page.
| Unit | Hours | At the bedside | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| General wards | 8am–8pm daily | Two at a time | Quiet hour 2pm–3pm for rest |
| Intensive care | 10am–8pm daily | Two at a time | Closed during handover, 7am and 7pm |
| Neonatal intensive care | Any hour | Parents plus one | Parents are not visitors and are never asked to leave |
| Maternity | 8am–9pm; partner any hour | Two plus the partner | Siblings welcome 10am–6pm |
| Pediatrics | Any hour for parents and guardians | Two adults | Other visitors 9am–7pm |
| Emergency department | Any hour | One | Space is tight; a second person may be asked to wait |
| Surgical recovery | By arrangement with the nurse | One | Usually once the patient is awake and settled |
| Behavioral health | 4pm–7pm daily | Two | Agreed in advance with the care team |
| Palliative care | Any hour | No limit | Whoever the patient wants, whenever they want them |
Every bedside has a visitor chair, and on most units it folds flat for someone staying overnight.
Who can visit
Whoever the patient says. Family, chosen family, partners, friends, and support people are all the same thing to us and we do not ask how anyone is related. A patient may also ask us to keep someone out, and we will, without explaining ourselves to that person.
Children are welcome and should be with an adult who is not the patient. One visitor at a time may be under 12 on general wards.
An interpreter, a support person for a disability, or a service animal is never counted against the two-at-a-time limit.
Staying overnight
- One adult may stay with a patient on most units. Ask the charge nurse; it is almost always yes.
- Two parents or guardians may stay with a child, and one with a newborn in the NICU at any hour.
- There is no limit at all in palliative care.
- Bedside chairs fold flat. Blankets and pillows come from the nurses' station.
- Overnight visitors can use the staff cafeteria between midnight and 5am, when nothing else is open.
Please do not visit if
- You have had a fever, vomiting, or diarrhea in the last 48 hours.
- You have a cough, sore throat, or a new rash.
- You have been exposed to chickenpox, measles, or COVID-19 in the last week.
- You have had a live vaccine in the last two weeks and are visiting oncology or the NICU.
Call the ward instead. Every unit will pass on a message, and most will set up a video call from the bedside if you ask.
Flowers, food, and other things people bring
- Flowers are fine on general wards, and not permitted in intensive care, the NICU, or oncology.
- Food should be checked with the nurse first. More patients are on restricted diets than you would guess.
- Balloons must be mylar rather than latex, because of allergies.
- Phones are fine everywhere. Photographs of anyone other than your own patient are not.
Winterfield Health is a fictional organization built for software demonstrations. The units, hours, and policies on this page are invented and describe no real hospital.