Hospital patients refusing to wear masks

[Bloodybridget]

Reading the i newspaper this morning, there's a column by an advanced clinical practitioner, working in A&E, where she says "What I can't understand is people who refuse to acknowledge that Covid is a danger. Some patients won't wear masks in hospital. We ask them to, for the sake of others, and they say: "I don't believe in Covid, so I don't need to wear a mask."

I get that this must be a tiny minority of patients, but honestly, should hospitals allow mask refusers to stay on the premises, endangering staff and other patients? Can't they just say, whatever you believe, you have to wear one? Any HCPs here come across this attitude?

I work in a sexual health clinic, or I was until recently, now WFH as pregnant and the local rates are mental.
We had quite a few people refuse to wear masks, some for good reason and some for no reason other than they didn’t want to. The minority have become aggressive when challenged. We have no on site security; very difficult to manage these cases!

Orf1abc
Yes but when he sat next to us in the X-ray waiting area we moved

I’m not sure how well masks actually work but I wear one as requested during antenatal clinic visits. When I was admitted, I was told to take it off in my room and then when I was moved into a bay I just had to wear it when in the corridor.

The NHS has said women in labour don’t wear masks or if you are an inpatient. Just in public areas like corridors.

I'm an inpatient mental health nurse. We can ask our patients to wear masks but they don't have to. Last month every single patient on my ward was covid positive and even then they didn't have to wear masks, I cant count how many times they were literally coughing in my face. I'm still waiting to hear from the infection prevention lead from the trust on why we are offered a proper ffp3 mask for performing cpr but having confirmed covid cases coughing directly in my face doesn't warrant such protection. I'm astounded i didn't catch covid at this time. Nearly every other member of staff did.

This is why we are in still in the middle of this pandemic. We ask people to do something for the greater good and often for their own benefit and they refuse.

What do we do 99% of the time - we let them decide and potentially put others in danger.

No mask - no entry. I honestly now dont care who you are. If you really cannot wear a mask then sadly you are going to have to find another way of doing whatever it is you are doing. Sorry if that sounds harsh but too many people are using 'I'm exempt' with no proof required (and they bloody well know it too)

@Bathroom12345 I completely agree with you. The right of staff, other customers, passengers, service users, patients, etc., to have as much protection as possible, overrides anyone's right to shop, travel etc., if they refuse to cooperate with basic precautions.

Dd worked as Barista before lockdown. She was hardcore about mask enforcement and refused to serve people without masks. Would make them go back to their car to get one. When it was table service only people would come up to the counter and try and order and argue when told to sit down. When we went into tier 3 they’d try and sit down and she was forever slinging people out. Idiots.

Im really glad this wasnt happening in 2002/03 when i had gallstones and was in and out of A+E while waiting ten months for an operation. I was rolling around on the bed screaming in pain. A mask would have made it even worse.............as if that were possible.

Surely someone claiming not to believe in Covid is in the wrong part of the hospital. Get them to repeat that to two doctors and they can be sectioned

If you really cannot wear a mask then sadly you are going to have to find another way of doing whatever it is you are doing.

I’m sure you are just referring to nonessential activities, not essential ones or going to see a doctor or A&E? You do know that people can be vulnerable and mask exempt?

I’ve heard of a woman who needs a csection bit is refusing a swab before. It means that she has to be treated as positive and the theatre will be deep cleaned before use meaning that another woman could be ambulanced else where if theatre can’t be turned around quickly and also means extra cleaning of her room, she can’t have the usual care she would get and staff have the unnecessary anxiety. She also won’t wear a mask. Directors are deciding whether to refer to a different private hospital miles away instead or what else they can do. All for a bloody swab that as an nhs staff member I do every 3 days!

Anyone who cannot wear a mask is given a visor but she refused that too. Scanning rooms are tiny and we have limited sonographers so if they get sick then women literally won’t get scans.
Sorry, makes me mad the selfishness of some people.

Pity they can’t be denied beds when they get sick.
In my ward it is mask off if around own bed space, mask on when walking the ward or leaving for X-rays, theatre etc.
In shared wards, curtains pulled around beds to prevent droplet contamination.

@Weenurse

Pity they can’t be denied beds when they get sick. In my ward it is mask off if around own bed space, mask on when walking the ward or leaving for X-rays, theatre etc. In shared wards, curtains pulled around beds to prevent droplet contamination.

That’s very callous. Denying care to the ill would violate the Hippocratic Oath wouldn’t it?

People who refuse to obey the rules should be shunted to the back of the queue for vaccinations as punishment.

I'm a radiographer scanning everything from covid to outpatient and the amount of times I have to say "put your mask on" in a day is really starting to grate at me.

I had one chap today take his mask off to hear me and then coughed right in my face.
I was masked up but still...

I dont vote Tory.
I lost ten stone (hence the gallstones. Two doctors said it was caused by rapid weight loss)
Ive never been drunk.
I dont smoke.

Havent been abroad since 1986. I dont go to parties Even in non Covid times) I was doing #protecttheNHS before it was fashionable

@mouldygrapes

I work in a sexual health clinic, or I was until recently, now WFH as pregnant and the local rates are mental. We had quite a few people refuse to wear masks, some for good reason and some for no reason other than they didn’t want to. The minority have become aggressive when challenged. We have no on site security; very difficult to manage these cases!

I wonder if their attitude to masks is the same as their attitude to condoms!

The thing is, why are we wearing masks? What is the purpose of them? When you ask yourself that, does it then make a difference if someone is wearing them because they are actually except or just because they are a dick? The outcome is the same.

It’s about infection control. No wonder most people pick up codv. Anyone child adult wear a mask ffs

Pick up codv hospital

I think very few people genuinely cant wear a mask. The majority who dont are covidiots.

I think it should be compulsory or refusal of service. NHS staff should be within their rights to refuse treatment unless they have ffp3.

Im sorry but even medical treatment/disabilities (and I say that as someone with a disabled dc,) do not justify risking someone else's life for.

I was in a and e recently for a severe allergic reaction and they had me keep the mask on except when examining inside my mouth, which was completely fine once they’d given the injections and some steroids through a cannula there was no reason I shouldn’t of had a mask on. I agree unless you’re admitted if you’re in a hospital you should wear a mask, even if you’re exempt I’m sure a doctor or nurse would tell you take it off if they believed the cons of it outweigh the pros

@Willyoujustbequiet
I’m sorry but I don’t agree with no mask, no service from NHS. For one, health care is a human right, so service should not be refused to anyone in need. Secondly, if you decide for a career as a healthcare professional, then you are accepting the risks that go with it. Namely that you may be exposed to deadly pathogens. Similar to how people who choose a career in the Armed Forces are accepting the risk they may be exposed to enemy fire/bombs. If you don’t like this risk, then you chose the wrong career. Refusing to provide healthcare in a pandemic because of risk to yourself is like a military person refusing to be deployed to a war zone. It is what they knowingly signed up to and promised to do.