A long-standing Liskeard resident and honorary burgess of the town has spoken of the upset caused to his wife by a policy of not allowing visitors to patients in Liskeard Hospital.

John Jackson, who has lived in Liskeard for 65 years and in his present Belgrave Terrace house for 55 years, and worked for more than 40 years as a technician at a dental practice in the town. His wife Margaret, meanwhile – who is also an honorary burgess – worked for many years at Dyers’ tobacconist shop in Bay Tree Hill, on the site where Liskeard’s Boots the Chemist store now stands.

Mr Jackson says that his wife was admitted to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, three weeks ago with a suspected stroke, though she was subsequently diagnosed as having pneumonia and a couple of blood spots. While she was at Derriford, Mr Jackson was able to visit her for an hour each day.

However, Mrs Jackson was later moved to Liskeard Hospital - and her husband was shocked to discover there that no visiting was allowed. He was able to phone his wife at the hospital but as she suffers from dementia she was very distressed that he was no longer visiting and was often in floods of tear when he phoned.

Mr Jackson says that his son’s partner works as a nurse at Liskeard Hospital - but even she wasn’t allowed to visit Margaret in her ward.

Speaking to the Cornish Times, Mr Jackson said that the hospital policy seemed like just “bloody bureaucracy” for the sake of it, adding that there were only three other patients in his wife’s ward, so why couldn’t relatives’ visits be staggered while COVID precautions lasted to minimise contact between people?

Fortunately, since first speaking to us John Jackson was told that his wife was due to return home on the day that last week’s Cornish Times was going to press. However, he said he wanted to raise the issue of Liskeard’s Hospital’s no visiting policy so that other families might be spared similar upset to that which he and Margaret had experienced.

When the Cornish Times telephoned Liskeard Hospital, an administrator confirmed that the hospital policy at the current time was to allow no visiting of patients.

A spokesperson for the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: “We know how incredibly important it is for people to be able to stay in touch with their loved ones while in hospital and for this reason, we’ve supported throughout the pandemic people receiving end of life care, in best interest situations or exceptional circumstances. We’ve also been helping people to remain in touch in other ways, for example via video calls on Trust iPads, telephone calls and letter writing.

“As national lockdown measures are easing; we are continuing to regularly review and increase opportunities for visiting to maintain contact with family and friends, while minimising the spread of the virus.

“We would encourage anyone who is concerned, to ring and speak to the ward manager in the first instance to discuss ways for them to stay in touch.”