Important update – No change to current Trust IPC guidance

We have recently received updated IPC guidance from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). This provides advice for NHS organisations as we continue to live with COVID-19 and asks us to review our IPC guidance following a local risk assessment.   

You may have seen that a couple of local Trusts have taken the decision to further ease restrictions around wearing face masks in some clinical areas. This decision has been taken on the back of their own risk assessments and levels of COVID-19 infection currently within their hospitals and local communities. 

Given that we still have a higher number of COVID-19 positive patients than we would like and are still seeing a number of COVID-19 outbreaks, we have taken the decision to keep our current IPC guidance in place.  

It is therefore important for all colleagues to continue to follow all PPE guidance to protect yourselves, your patients and your colleagues. We will also be asking those coming into our hospitals and clinical areas to continue to wear a face mask. You can find the current staff guidance below and on the intranet here.   

This guidance is continually reviewed and we will share any further information with you as and when we are able to. Thank you for your continued support.