Signs put up to warn families to stay away from hospital grounds over Easter weekend

Signs at Astley Ainslie ignored

One of the signs at Astley Ainslie

HOSPITAL bosses have pleaded with dog walkers and sunbathers to stay out of their grounds for fear of spreading coronavirus to vulnerable patients.

Signs have been put up around Morningside’s Astley Ainslie building in the hope of deterring families over the Easter weekend.

The Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown are also understood to have stalled a high-profile sale of the site.

“Due to the current coronavirus pandemic and the ‘stay at home’ guidance we are asking members of the public not to use the hospital grounds for the sole purpose of walking dogs, playing, exercising or meeting up with others at this time,” read the notices.

Some were ignoring the advice this week prompting a further warning from Roger Kellett, convenor of the Astley Ainslie community engagement group.

“Being a retired doctor, I feel quite strongly about stopping the infection,” said Mr Kellett, a former general physician at the Eastern General and Royal Infirmary.

“Two days ago I saw a woman with her child playing and a man walking his dog but the signs weren’t terribly obvious.

“The poor patients are locked in the building and not allowed any visitors at all. If they look out of the window and see people in the park, it didn’t seem right to me.”

Mr Kellett has written to members of the group’s mailing list and the Grange Association in a bid to deter use of the grounds.

Progress with the sale of the site is understood to depend on Edinburgh City Council planners producing a brief for the site to specify limitations and opportunities for developers.

Mr Kellett says this work is waiting for a heritage and landscape assessment to be completed by NHS Lothian - all currently held up by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) has a serious impact on the Astley Ainslie Hospital,” Mr Kellett writes in his letter.

“The patients in the hospital are highly vulnerable to the virus and as a result all hospital visiting has been suspended.

“Until the advent of the health service, the grounds of the hospital were kept strictly private and policed regularly by the medical superintendent.

“We are very fortunate that we are now normally allowed to enjoy the grounds but this cannot be permitted to endanger patients and staff.

“Recently, despite the pandemic, the public has continued to use the grounds extensively often in ways contrary to the government coronavirus guidelines.

“This increases the risk to patients and staff of contracting the virus. If one staff member were to contract the virus it could be passed on to a large number of the vulnerable patients.”

Mr Kellett backed the warning to steer clear of the grounds after talks with the hospital management.

“They look on this as a regrettable but necessary temporary restriction,” he added. “They have posted notices at all entrances.

“It would be helpful if you would pass this information on to anyone you know who might use these hospital grounds.”