People are being asked to protect themselves and others by wearing a mask in healthcare settings
The NHS in Sussex is calling on people to help to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by reintroducing mask wearing in all clinical health services – from consulting rooms, to hospital wards, to outpatient departments.
As cases increase across the country, all NHS organisations in Sussex have agreed to reintroduce mask wearing for staff, patients and visitors from, Wednesday 7th July onwards. This may also apply to GPs, pharmacies, as well as care homes and other residential settings.
We would advise people seeking to use services or visit healthcare settings to check the latest guidance, and if in doubt to ensure that they have a suitable mask/face covering with them.
Some services such as hospitals have also made changes to their COVID-19 requirements and visiting restrictions due to the spike in COVID-19 cases recently. For hospitals in East Sussex, please check the East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust website for the latest details before travelling.
To help to reduce the spread of the virus and protect those most vulnerable in hospital, patients, visitors and staff are all being asked to wear a mask where required and to continue to clean hands on entering any health facilities and as often as possible using soap and water or hand sanitiser.
Kerry Lloyd, Deputy Chief Nurse at NHS Sussex, said:
“With COVID-19 on the increase in our communities, we are asking people to please wear a mask when you are in a clinical healthcare setting.
Our services are looking after people at their most vulnerable and we need to do all we can to protect them and to look after the staff who are there to care for them.
We hope that people will support us with this and together we can do all that we can to protect each other and our patients.
We will continue to keep this updated guidance under review’’.
For more information, please visit the Sussex Health and Care website here.
