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Six NHS hospital staff have been sent home after falling ill with Covid-19 when they broke government rules by not wearing a mask when sharing elevators to and from work.
The North Midlands University Hospitals Trust told all six not to work, that it is already having to serve nearly 600 employees off work due to illness.
Staff at the trust, which manages Royal Stoke and Stafford County Hospitals, received information about the incident in an email last week from Dr. John Oxtoby, the trust’s medical director. The trust declined to say what roles the six play in one of the largest on the NHS, or in which hospital they work.
Their actions are in clear violation of the government’s guidance on the steps that passengers should take to ensure they are not spread or exposed to the coronavirus if they travel with people who are not at home or in the support bubble.
It establishes that people who travel must “ask the driver and passengers to cover their faces”, as well as open the windows to ensure ventilation, clean the vehicles between trips and share the car with the same people on each trip.
In his email to staff on Oct. 28, Oxtoby said: “It is essential that all carpooling staff wear a mask during the entire trip to and from work.
“This week we had to send six staff members home as they were not wearing masks and have now developed symptoms of Covid-19.”
He also reminded staff to always wear a visor in clinical areas where it is recommended to do so, even if a patient has tested negative. The trust declined to say whether any staff members had recently violated that rule.
As of Tuesday this week, 987 of the trust’s 11,500 employees were ill, of which 583 had Covid-19 or were isolated because someone in their home was showing symptoms. Those 583 represented a sharp increase in the 421 staff who were sick due to Covid-19 when Oxtoby sent his email on October 28, a 39% increase in just six days.
When asked about the behavior of the six staff members, Oxtoby said trusted staff, like everyone in the NHS, had been hard at work during the pandemic. However, he added, “Obviously, we all have a responsibility to adhere to national guidelines and our staff are regularly updated with the latest advice as it becomes available.
“Wearing a mask and eye protection along with hand washing and social distancing are important measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in our hospitals and keep our patients and communities safe.”
Lindsay Meeks, West Midlands Regional Director of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “While there is no suggestion that this incident involves any of our members, we urge all nursing staff to adhere to Covid-19 restrictions. current in your area and the guidelines established by your employer. This will not only help keep them safe, it will also help reduce the risk to their colleagues and their patients. “
Last month, police warned Royal Surrey NHS Trust staff about their behavior after two doctors tested positive for coronavirus after attending a social function along with 20 colleagues.
In July, The Guardian revealed how the failure of nurses at Hillingdon Hospital in London to wear masks in a training session had spread the virus to their colleagues, prompting the hospital to temporarily restrict emergency admissions.
About a week later, The Guardian reported how Sarah Tedford, the then-executive director of the hospital, who had harshly criticized the nurses in an email to staff, had been photographed without wearing a mask, in front of a sign reminding staff that he should wear one. . He left the trust a month later.
