Visitor Restrictions For Families
Your Child is An Inpatient
Two parents/guardians (without symptoms of COVID-19) will be issued with Visiting Cards when their child is admitted and must present the cards to gain entry to the hospital. Both parents/guardians are allowed to be with their child at the same time during their hospital stay. Unfortunately siblings are unable to attend the hospital at this time in the place of a parent/guardian.
Your Child is Attending our Emergency Care Unit, Outpatients or Day Case Settings
To protect our patients/parents/guardians and staff only one parent/guardian without symptoms of COVID 19 will be allowed to be with their child during their hospital visit/appointment to ED, OPD or Day Care. Unfortunately due to space limitations in these settings, we are unable to facilitate two parents/guardians at the same time. Siblings are not able to visit and there is a robust Visitor Card system in place.
Exceptions will always be considered as previous, under compassionate or special circumstances.
Please do not attend if you have any symptoms of COVID-19, are a close contact or are awaiting a COVID-19 swab result. All visitors must wear a face mask at all times. While we understand that these measures will be difficult for some families, our priority is the safety of all CHI patients, families and staff.
If a child 9 years old and over, or their parent/guardian, is not in a position to wear a face covering they should contact the hospital in advance of attending a scheduled appointment.
The Visiting Guidelines at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Tallaght, have been developed to protect your child, your family and other visitors. Please ask your relatives and friends to comply with the Guidelines.
Visiting Times
– Normal Visiting times are between 0800hrs – 2100hrs daily.
– The above time restrictions do not apply to Parents/Guardians staying in the hospital overnight.
– Visiting is restricted during times of quiet periods for patient rest, mealtimes and cleaning of rooms.
– Visits outside of the normal visiting times should only take place if there are special circumstances and this is agreed with the Clinical Nurse Manager in charge.
– Visiting is restricted in all Paediatric Intensive Care Areas and you should contact the child’s parent/guardian directly who will consult the Clinical Nurse Manager.
– To prevent the risk of infection to children in hospital, all individuals are prohibited from visiting if they are suffering from or have been in contact with any kind of suspected infectious complaint e.g. measles, diarrhoea, vomiting, sore throat, flu. If there is any such risk the individual must first consult with the Clinical Nurse Manager in charge on the ward before visiting a child.
Parents / Guardians
– Parents/Guardians may visit every day and are encouraged to spend as much time as possible with their child while he/she is in hospital.
– Parents/Guardians should indicate to the Clinical Nurse Manager in charge the identity of likely visitors their child may receive.
– CHI at Tallaght recognises that sometimes both parents/guardians need to be present overnight but only one parent/guardian is permitted to remain in the patients room. The other parent/guardian can avail of Parent Accommodation on site.
– Child patients can only leave their ward once accompanied by a Parent/Guardian. The Parent/Guardian must inform the Clinical Nurse Manager in charge before taking a child patient out of the ward.
Child Visitors
Please note that this guideline is currently on hold to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
– Young children aged 16 years or under must be accompanied by an adult. This adult is responsible for the control, care and safety of the visiting child/children. Young children must not be left unsupervised.
– It is not permitted for children under 16 years of age to supervise a patient in the absence of a parents/guardians.
– Child visitors are limited to two persons at any one time.
Relatives / Friends / Carers
Please note that this guideline is currently on hold to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
– Brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, carers and significant friends of the child, may visit for short periods of time at the discretion of the Clinical Nurse Manager in charge on the ward. – Where the patient lives in residential care or has special needs, carers and teachers may play a very big role in their day to day care. Decisions with regards to visiting needs will be made on a individual basis with the Clinical Nurse Manager in charge.