Hospitals, GP surgeries, clinics and other clinical settings across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent will still be requiring people to wear face coverings.
This follows the decision announced by the UK Government this week to lift Plan B restrictions which made face coverings mandatory in a number of settings – including shops and public transport.
This requirement ends on Wednesday January 26. But people will still need to wear them on NHS premises where infection prevention and control is an absolute priority.
Steve Fawcett, Medical Director for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent CCGs said: “We’ve got to remember that the NHS is still under really intense pressure and that COVID is still around – with people being admitted to hospital every day.
“Hospitals and other clinical settings are visited by people with severe underlying health problems who are still highly vulnerable if they contract COVID, especially those who are still unvaccinated.
“The other serious issue that we face is that people who test positive for COVID still need to self-isolate. This includes NHS and other key health and care workers – and we are still without a significant portion of our workforce for this reason.
“We all want to be delivering services at full capacity. And for this reason we are still going to be asking people to wear face coverings when they visit our buildings. It is a small price to pay, but can make a big difference.”
