Wondering who the clinical people are who go to supermarkets in uniform

[Singinginshower]

I see there are lots of pictures relating to the NHS shopping hour, showing people in uniform.
I don't understand how anyone who works in health and social care thinks this is OK.
I even wondered if people were 'borrowing' uniforms to get their shopping done.

Ffs have you got nothing else to sticky beak about

Community nurses wear a uniform

We have to show our ID card which has our photo on to be allowed an nhs privilege

Yeah, cross infection protocols don't count on night shifts. Also, it's impossible to put a coat on when you're leaving a night shift.

There seems to be a growing resentment towards nhs staff getting a few perks he little digs the comments

Nice ...

"Yeah, cross infection protocols don't count on night shifts. Also, it's impossible to put a coat on when you're leaving a night shift"

Do coats prevent germs? News to me.

HCA here, I can't go to, or leave work in my uniform. It's infection control policy. I'm in outpatients but the policy still applies. I've recently learned that I'm in an at risk group through my duties due to the specialty and it's exposure risk. Community services would be different and private care maybe different again. It shouldn't be happening though.

@JaneTheVirgin thank you so much for everything you are doing, you are amazing

I get what you mean OP.
I’m not sure what the ‘ffs’ comments are about - the OP isn’t slighting NHS workers.
They’re questioning the pictures of people at supermarkets in scrubs. The board I worked at would have kicked off about scrubs in public. It has also crossed my mind whether some of them are people trying to flout the rules and go to NHS hour when not entitled. But I doubt it as I think they’re requesting ID!

Lots of community care workers do shopping for their clients.

Could I "politely suggest" that maybe they do not have time have to go home, get changed, whatever else it is that people on this thread want them to do before they go shopping for the one whole hour they've got to actually buy food before they go home to sleep? Perhaps I could also politely suggest that they feel they HAVE to wear their uniforms so that people can see they work for the NHS and thus not give them a hard time for going shopping during this hour?

It’s about infection control. You don’t walk 15hrs of accumulated bacteria on your uniform around a supermarket.

Absolutely nothing to do with the pressures the NHS is under. Actually maybe it is: following infection control policies might help alleviate this pressure.

Change into clean scrubs to go home? What? I have never heard of that and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Do you perform surgery at home? Do you understand the cost of providing and laundering scrubs so that you can get home from work in clean ones?

Do wonder about this too TBH. DH is a dentist and always changes to go to/from work. If he doesn’t have time to change, he doesn’t go out. Same with the nurses.

I know this issue has been discussed in the dental world. It was probably less of an issue pre pandemic and because most nhs staff are non-surgical but it is a cross infection risk now - particularly if staff are going to the supermarket etc

The policy of most hospitals is not to travel to and from work in uniform because of the infection control risk.

You don't have to go home and change, you change at work because if you don't you are transporting all sorts of nasties backwards and forwards.

Community workers are a different kettle of fish and whilst it's not ideal they don't have a choice.

We are (rightly) hearing about how much more exposed our hospital workers are than others and grateful that they're still going in and doing their jobs, it's a logical question to ask why people are then travelling to and from public places in clothes which have also been exposed.

Hospitals used to launder uniforms, nurses used to be given 10 uniforms so they never run out.

Now it’s deemed too costly. Nurses are lucky to be given 3 uniforms and expected to launder them theirselves.

Hospitals used to supply changing rooms/showers for people to get changed. Now there is a toilet for staff and that’s it. Many places don’t even supply a locker for mufti to be stashed.

Potionqueen That is shameful. I am really shocked

@Sonichu Do coats prevent germs? News to me the principle of covering something is news to you? What happens is the coat forms a physical barrier and thus transmission is reduced. HTH.

I am shocked but not surprised @Potionqueen.

Apologies to any frontline workers who thought my post was a dig at them, it wasnt intended to.

I used to work in food manufacturing. If you went on shop floor you had to wear protective coat, boots, gloves, sleeves, hairnet and hat. You had to take this off if you left the production area.

I've been thinking this for years. In my old area and my new one, 100 miles apart. I see hcp in uniforms and in scrubs, out and about, in food places and supermarkets.

Yesterday 8 in the Mcdonalds queue all in uniform and 6 walking away, Mcdonalds is 200 metres from hospital.

But even without this proximity it is seen as normal to wear uniform outside work.

Ive been saying it for years, that surely they should get changed at work and then again at home time.

Ive been saying it for years, that surely they should get changed at work and then again at home time

Just as soon as my hospital offers me extra pay to spend my time doing so and a safe single cubicle area to do so.

In dentistry it is absolutely not allowed to wear uniform outside No exceptions ever. That’s been a rule since I qualified in the 90’s So to see another person wearing clinical wear out and about astounds me

Never been allowed to come n go in uniform.. it’s manky, if you’re not working in the community there’s no excuse. I always felt like I smelled/was dirty at the end of a shift even if no one else agreed.

One of the girls I worked nights with learned the hard way why we didn’t sneak in in uniform after dealing with surprise projectile d&v 5 minutes before finishing... She got her arse handed to her when she confessed why she was panicking about her bus.

When I worked in hospital land as a junior doctor no changing rooms, no lockers and definitely no hospital laundry so you went and came in the clothes you worked in. Also usually carried coat and handbag from ward to ward. The geniuses that decided white coats were an infection risk bender realised all the stuff that the useful pockets carried so a bag is now essential and carries infection from ward to ward....