PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Hemananda Muniraman AU - Mahmoud Ali AU - Paul Cawley AU - Jessica Hillyer AU - Adam Heathcote AU - Vennila Ponnusamy AU - Zoe Coleman AU - Kendall Hammonds AU - Chandni Raiyani AU - Eleanor Gait-Carr AU - Sarah Myers AU - Katie Hunt AU - Vinayak Govande AU - Anoo Jain AU - Reese Clark AU - Cora Doherty AU - Venkata Raju AU - Paul Clarke TI - Parental perceptions of the impact of neonatal unit visitation policies during COVID-19 pandemic AID - 10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000899 DP - 2020 Nov 01 TA - BMJ Paediatrics Open PG - e000899 VI - 4 IP - 1 4099 - http://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000899.short 4100 - http://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000899.full SO - BMJ Paediatrics Open2020 Nov 01; 4 AB - Objectives To ascertain parental perceptions of the impact of restricted visiting policies to neonatal intensive care units during the current COVID-19 pandemic.Design Cross-sectional survey of parents impacted by visitation policies.Setting Six tertiary level neonatal units, four from the UK and two from the USA, participated in the study.Participants Parents and families of infants hospitalised in the participating centres between 1 May 2020 and 21 August 2020.Methods Online-based and/or paper-based survey, querying the visitation policies and their impact on parents’ ability to visit, care for and bond with their infants.Results A total of 231 responses were received. Visitation limited to a single visitor with no restrictions on duration was the most frequently reported policy; 140/217 (63%). Visitation policies were perceived as being restrictive by 62% (138/219) of the respondents with 37% (80/216) reporting being able to visit less often than desired, 41% (78/191) reporting being unable to bond enough and 27% (51/191) reporting not being able to participate in their baby’s daily care. Mild to severe impact on breast feeding was reported by 36% (75/209) of respondents. Stricter policies had a higher impact on families and were significantly associated with a lack of bonding time, inability to participate in care and an adverse impact on breast feeding.Conclusions Visitation policies during the COVID-19 pandemic varied between centres and over time with stricter restrictions implemented earlier on in the pandemic. Parents reported significant impacts on their ability to visit, care for and bond with their infants with perceived severity of impact worse with stricter restrictions.