Hospital staff in Birmingham spat at over mask requests
Hospital staff in Birmingham have been spat at by visitors who refuse to wear masks.
A University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust board meeting heard there had been a number of incidents where things have turned “nasty”.
Papers to the meeting show visitors to UHB hospitals – including Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Heartlands Hospital and Good Hope Hospital – were one of the potential causes of 113 outbreaks of Covid amongst patients and staff.
The board meeting heard there have been a number of incidents where visitors have refused to wear masks when asked to by nursing or security staff.
The trust’s chief nurse Lisa Stalley-Green told the meeting: “The issue on the masks is we have had incidents where people have attended the hospital and then challenged our security staff or our own staff around mask wearing and facial covering.
“We have supported our security and other front-of-house staff with being able to challenge that or indeed turn people away.
“It is a requirement in hospital and interestingly people will try and argue that they have exemptions but there is no exemption.”
David Burbridge, the trust’s chief legal officer, said: “There have been a number of instances where it has got ‘nasty’ and staff have had to be assertive and have had to request assistance from our security team to deal with these issues.
“In some cases it has got worse than just not wearing masks to actually physically spitting at staff. Clearly that is not something that is going to be tolerated by the trust.
“We won’t hesitate to engage the police when it gets to that extreme level which is really unacceptable.”
As of today January 29, the trust had 942 inpatients testing positive for Covid-19, with 150 patients in intensive care units.
The papers state the trust has seen more than 9,000 Covid-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic – more than other trust in the UK.
The meeting also heard Covid has cost the trust £115.2 million including £46.6 million for the Nightingale Hospital.
