{"id":29486,"date":"2021-07-13T15:29:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T14:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=29486"},"modified":"2021-07-13T15:29:38","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T14:29:38","slug":"mask-wearing-must-continue-to-ease-burden-on-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=29486","title":{"rendered":"Mask wearing must continue to ease burden on NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p>Mask wearing in hospitals, clinics and other NHS buildings should remain compulsory\u00c2\u00a0 when Covid restrictions are eased next Monday (July 19), Unite said this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Responding to Boris Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s press conference on Monday (July 12), Unite said that mask coverings and social distancing should remain in place for the foreseeable future within the NHS as infections rates are still rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unite, which has 100,000 members in the health service, understands that some NHS trusts in England will insist that masks continue to be worn by staff, patients and visitors after next Monday, but the union said that it should be underpinned by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unite national officer for health Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have serious questions about Boris Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s laissez-faire approach to the widespread easing of restrictions from 19 July. All bets have been placed on the vaccination programme holding the line, but there is no guarantee that this will be a completely successful strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe believe that social distancing and mask wearing in hospitals, clinics and other NHS buildings should continue for the foreseeable future in order to protect the public and our members working in the health service,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe understand that a number of trusts in England will insist on the wearing of masks after next Monday \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and this should be backed up by the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat the prime minister is doing by his \u00e2\u20ac\u0098mixed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 messaging is causing confusion to NHS staff and the public,&#8221; Jarrett-Thorpe continued. &#8220;What is needed is clarity in the same way that you know you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t legally smoke in public places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPublic opinion is in favour of continued mask wearing and the prime minister should urgently reflect that concern, especially as vulnerable groups could be at risk with the responsibility for mask wearing now being up to the individual,&#8221; he went on to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members have been fighting coronavirus for the last 17 months and they are exhausted. An increase in hospitalisations which will follow from 100,000 infections a day will add to their immense workloads &#8211; the pandemic has not ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAlready we are hearing reports from our members of holidays being curtailed to meet the expected demand. Anything that could ease the burden on the NHS, such as mask wearing, should be employed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>By Shaun Noble<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mask wearing in hospitals, clinics and other NHS buildings should remain compulsory\u00c2\u00a0 when Covid restrictions are eased next Monday (July 19), Unite said this week. Responding to Boris Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s press conference on Monday (July 12), Unite said that mask coverings and social distancing should remain in place for the foreseeable future within the NHS as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1295,1364,1681,29],"wps_subtitle":"Mask wearing should be compulsory in NHS settings as Covid infection rates soar, Unite said","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29486"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29488,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29486\/revisions\/29488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}