Face covering requirements in practices

NHS England confirmed on 15 July 2021 that Public Health England’s infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance still applies to patient-facing healthcare settings, ahead of the law around mask wearing coming to an end on Monday. From a practical point of view this means practice staff can rely on mask wearing being NHS policy, rather than an individual practice decision, when asking patients to wear a face covering.

We have produced a poster that practices may wish to put up in waiting rooms, reminding patients of the importance of wearing a mask, and designed to reflect the diversity of London’s population.

We have been campaigning on the issue of face masks since the Government announced they would be dropped as a legal requirement two weeks ago, alongside a wider piece of work pushing back against abuse of practice staff by people opposed to mask wearing and the Covid vaccination campaign. Dr Michelle Drage, our CEO, spoke to The Guardian on Wednesday and shared examples of abuse fed back to us by London practices. Dr Drage was also quoted in Pulse and GPOnline prior to yesterday’s announcement, calling for a firmer line from NHS England on mask wearing.

Download colour version – A4 PDF

 image

Download black and white version – A4 PDF

image

The BMA have also produced a poster covering masks and other IPC measures. Download here.

Last updated : 07 Oct 2021

 

Provider Development Masterclasses (31 Mar 2016)

This series of day-long masterclasses aims to equip participants with relevant, practical business skills and knowledge that they can take back and use in their localities. Topics have been selected...
Read more »

RCGP guide to supporting information for appraisal and revalidation (30 Mar 2016)

The RCGP has approved a new guide to supporting information for appraisal and revalidation (March 2016) that aims to reduce inconsistencies in interpretation and streamline the process of providing...
Read more »

London GP Registration for Offenders (30 Mar 2016)

Londonwide LMCs welcomes the London GP Registration for Offenders initiative, it helps practices deal with the needs of an often vulnerable and challenging group of patients. Offenders have exactly the same rights...
Read more »

Patient online access for children aged 11-16 years (24 Mar 2016)

NHS England (NHSE) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) have produced some helpful guidance about proxy access regarding Patient Online.  The full guidance is available here and...
Read more »

Budget 2016 (17 Mar 2016)

Budget 2016 was, on the whole, fairly innocuous for health professionals. There were very few health-specific announcements (some money for children’s hospitals outside London) and a couple of measures that...
Read more »

New Housing Application letter and poster (17 Mar 2016)

Our new waiting room poster and template practice letter will help practice staff manage requests for letters supporting housing applications.
Read more »

Patient Online detailed coded record (DCR) deadline is 31 March 2016 (16 Mar 2016)

This month sees the deadline for enabling online access to patients’ detailed coded record (DCR). Practices have until 31 March 2016 to switch this on. The latest figures we...
Read more »

PMS contract reviews update (16 Mar 2016)

We recently issued our third PMS (Personal Medical Services) bulletin on the reviews taking place across London. Our bulletins are designed to bring you the current PMS contract review information...
Read more »

New Men B immunisation advice (16 Mar 2016)

Following recent high profile stories about child deaths from meningitis B, Public Health England has issued further advice: Men B immunisation programme Following recent media coverage about the death of...
Read more »
Next Page »
« Previous Page