FACE COVERINGS

June 2020

With this in mind, visitors to Barnsley Hospital were asked to wear a face covering in the hospital. Barnsley Hospital expected all its staff and volunteers to wear a face covering and also asked all people who came to the hospital to wear a face covering to help keep everyone safe.

What did this mean for me?

If you were coming to hospital as a visitor or outpatient it was important you wore a face covering at all times.

Those who were shielding and were provided with a surgical face mask for appointments continued to use this.

For some people, wearing a face covering was difficult due to physical or mental health conditions.

In these instances, other measures were considered on a case by case basis, for example timed appointments or being seen immediately on arrival.

For anyone who is D/deaf or has hearing loss, staff had a range of communication options to ensure that they can communicate effectively with you, including sign language.

All visitors were expected to comply with existing social distancing and hand hygiene measures in addition to the face coverings while in the hospital.

There were some exceptions such as those with disabilities and very young children, who were not be required to wear a face covering. Children were treated according to their individual circumstances and medical needs.