University Hospital Southampton (UHS) has this week taken the decision to re-introduce the need for face coverings throughout all areas of their hospital, following a “sharp rise in Covid-19 in the community”.
Here on the Island the Isle of Wight NHS Trust say the policy on face masks and visitor access is being regularly reviewed, but there are no signs, as yet, that they will be re-introducing the need for face coverings, despite calls from some patients.
Call for mandatory face coverings
News OnTheWight ran a Open Letter last weekend from an immunosuppressed patient who pleaded with Darren Cattell, CEO of the IW NHS Trust, to make face coverings mandatory to protect the clinically extremely vulnerable immunosuppressed patients.
IW NHS: Policy being regularly reviewed
In response to the Open Letter, a spokesperson for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust told News OnTheWight,
“The safety and wellbeing of our patients, colleagues and our Island community continues to be our top priority. The policy on face masks and on visitor access is being regularly reviewed.
“Please continue to follow national guidance to help keep each other safe.
“That includes being up to date with vaccines and boosters as well as staying at home and avoiding contact with others if you have tested positive for or have symptoms of Covid-19.”
Patient: St Mary’s needs to be a safe place for all of us, everywhere
The News OnTheWight reader who shared their Open Letter with us, told us this afternoon,
“The mask policy at St Mary’s needs to be hospital-wide, not just a few departments.
“Immunosuppressed people are treated in all departments at St Mary’s, for their cancer, organ transplants or autoimmune diseases – and many of us also have unrelated medical conditions which require doctors’ appointments in any department and need trips to A&E, diagnostic imaging, pathology, etc., like anyone else.
“We need other people to wear masks to protect us, because the vaccines did not work well for some of us, and also for those Clinically Extremely Vulnerable people whose vaccines are wearing off, Covid could also radically worsen our existing medical problems.
“St Mary’s needs to be a safe place for all of us, everywhere, all of the time. Right now most of the departments are unsafe with so many maskless people. We can catch Covid from unmasked people, particularly from their coughing and sneezing.”
New IW Covid wave
Earlier in the week, Isle of Wight council urged residents and visitors to stay safe as a new Covid-19 wave hits the Island.
Local data shows the number of recorded cases has risen steeply from 40 on 22nd May to 240 on 22nd June — fueled by a new Omicron variant.
UHS: Need to protect our vulnerable patients
University Hospital Southampton explained their decision further,
“The transmissibility of the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 is proving to be very high and once again we need to do everything possible to stop the spread of infection in order to protect our vulnerable patients, staff and the services we provide.”
You can read the full explanation from UHS on their Website.
Image: © University Hospital Southampton
