Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Nurses without masks caused Covid outbreak
VIRUS WAS SPREAD DURING TRAINING SESSION
AN investigation by Hillingdon Hospital has revealed what caused the Covid-19 outbreak at the institution.
Ambulances started being diverted away from the west London hospital late on July 7, as the A&E unit began to close amid virus concerns. Seventy staff also had to go into isolation.
An inquiry found that it was nurses not wearing face masks or staying two metres apart that led to an outbreak of Covid-19, The Guardian revealed on Wednesday July 15.
The spread dates back to June 30, when one nurse unknowingly infected 16 other staff in a training session.
This event has now been identified as the source of the outbreak, which led to staff becoming unwell or having to take time off work because they had been in close contact with other staff infected by the virus.
Ambulances were still being diverted to other nearby hospitals more than a week after the policy was introduced.
Most NHS training is currently being done online at the moment, so many Hillingdon staff seemed confused as to why the physical training event, which took place in a lecture theatre in Hillingdon’s education centre, went ahead in the first place.
One senior doctor said letting the training event take place was “disastrous”.
He said: “This training session became a super-spreading event.
“The sanctioning of such a large gathering of health care workers indoors seems extremely unwise and out of kilter with how the hospital has handled meetings of all kinds during Covid.
“Most meetings have been avoided since late March or moved online or kept to a minimal number of people with appropriate spacing.”
It is thought that the nurse who spread the virus contracted it from a man who had recently returned from abroad and was a patient being treated for Covid-19 in the hospital’s acute medical unit.
The nurse became more and more ill in the training session and had to go to the A&E department at Hillingdon. There is nothing to suggest she acted inappropriately.
The 16 other staff that the nurse spread the virus to worked alongside her – mainly in that unit or in the A&E unit. Three of these nurses needed hospital treatment for Covid-19.
Hospital sources also said not all staff wore a face mask or stayed two metres apart, with social distancing becoming even less apparent on lunch breaks.
In an email sent on July 3, the trust’s chief executive Sarah Tedford blamed staff not wearing face masks or social distancing for the outbreak.
Whether the executive was referring to the training session specifically remains unclear.
One health official, who has knowledge about the inquiry findings, said: “Social distancing is very important in this pandemic, so it’s worrying to find that not done by an NHS trust. They shouldn’t be breaching any social distancing rules at the moment.
“These things [training sessions] shouldn’t be happening with current social distancing and I’m sure the trust will learn lessons from that. These situations can be avoided.”
All staff should wear a mask while at work and this is hospital policy.
The trust refused to answer questions about the training session, including why it went ahead in the first place.
In a statement, the trust said: “There is an ongoing investigation into the outbreak of Covid-19 at Hillingdon hospital.
“Our priority is to maintain safe and high quality care, and the trust is taking appropriate actions to reduce transmission in line with Public Health England guidance.”
The investigation is being taken up by senior executives and officials from Public Health England (PHE), NHS England and Hillingdon Council’s public health team.
The inquiry is ongoing.
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