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About us
Wheal Fortune Ward is a transitional care ward for women who need to stay in hospital for monitoring or treatment after giving birth.
Directions to the Wheal Fortune Ward
Wheal Fortune Ward is at the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro, on the ground floor of the Princess Alexandra Wing (PAW). When you come in to Princess Alexandra Wing building, turn left and continue to the end of the corridor (roughly 100 m), then turn right and follow the signs to Wheal Fortune.
Please see the hospital pages on the main hospital website for directions, facilities, maps, and accessibility information for each of our three hospital sites:
Visiting Wheal Fortune Ward
One adult visitor can visit from the hours of 10:00am – 10:00pm
Two additional visitors and siblings of the new baby can visit between the hours of 2:00pm – 8:00pm. If there are more than two visitors at a time, we ask that you make use whenever possible of the communal areas such as the day room and garden. This is to ensure a calm environment for the other families.
Some women may have a personalised plan for one person to stay with them overnight in a side room due to vulnerabilities or their length of stay. Unfortunately, we are not permitted to allow partners to stay in a 4 bedded bay due to restrictions on mixed sex accommodation.
We appreciate that we may not be able to accommodate everyone’s needs regarding visiting, however we ask that everyone respects our staff when staying or visiting the ward.
Please do not visit if you are feeling unwell.
Please try to avoid bringing children with you wherever possible due to the clinical nature of some offers of care and also the potential for prolonged waits.
You must not visit if you have any of these symptoms
COVID-19 testing for maternity visiting and appointments
From the beginning of pregnancy, all partners or support person must commence twice weekly COVID-19 testing to enable approved visiting and attendance at appointments
Pregnant women and people can have one support partner with them at:
- early pregnancy unit appointments
- all maternity scan appointments including growth scans
- all antenatal clinic appointments (Community and hospital)
- all Community Postnatal appointments
- maternity triage visits
- throughout labour in Delivery suite and birth centres
- Wheal Fortune (Transitional Care), subject to individual approval, between 2-5pm every day
- Wheal Rose, your midwife will discuss with you further on the day or please phone the night before if you have a planned admission booked.
There may be limitations in visiting which differ from day to day and to protect everyone a daily risk assessment will take place on Wheal Rose each day.
Paediatrics
One parent at any time and both parents to be present in the event of a critically ill child.
Top tips when visiting
- visitors need to introduce themselves and advise who they are visiting.
- they will also be required to wash their hands and may need to wear appropriate PPE during the visit.
- feel free to help out at mealtimes
- do not disturb clinical staff during medicine rounds
- when asked to leave a bay or room, please respect our request
- when you leave the ward following your visit, you will need to remove any PPE, dispose of it properly, and wash your hands
Please see the Visiting and appointments page for further general information.
Related information
What patients can expect from us
Our pledge is to let our patients know what they are in hospital for, what is needed before we can send them home, a timeframe for their discharge and an opportunity for them to be involved in shared decision-making about their treatment and care.
Contacting the ward for updates on your loved one
The ward is a busy place and our priority is patient care; the best time to call is after 11 am, once the doctors have completed their rounds. Upon admission to our ward we will establish if our patients are able to make contact with loved ones.
We suggest that one person is nominated to call the ward for updates and to act as the patient’s single point of contact. Our patients with capacity and the ability to contact loved ones themselves, are best placed to provide an update. Those who would prefer relatives to be updated by staff will have this documented and we will endeavour to contact daily to provide an update.
Parking
Our patients may not always be able to be treated within the maternity unit. This means that they may be transferred to different wards during a single inpatient stay, and we will always endeavour to update the patient’s nominated contact of this.
Entertainment
Most wards have access to Wi-Fi on NHSWi-Fi, however there are some connectivity issues on Wheal Fortune.
Laptops and mobiles are allowed (if users are respectful of other patients – it’s a good idea to bring headphones and label devices clearly). We ask that you ensure any chargers that you may bring for devices are in a good working condition, so as not to cause a fire.
Patient Experience
We are passionate about patient experience and we want every one of our patients, and their relatives, to receive the best possible service when being treated at, or visiting, our hospitals. We take all feedback seriously and will take action where appropriate. Please see the Patient Experience section for further details.
Page last reviewed: 20 February 2024
