Facemask rules in hospitals to be partially relaxed from mid-April

Rules on wearing facemasks in hospitals and other healthcare settings are due to be relaxed from the middle of this month, although some restrictions will remain in place.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has issued updated health guidance which says outside of periods of high levels of community transmission of Covid-19, “it is appropriate to move away from universal use of masks for healthcare workers and patients and visitors in the healthcare setting”.

“A local institutional risk assessment is appropriate to determine the timing of a move away from universal use of masks in that setting,” the guidance adds.

The use of face masks will continued to be used in a number of other settings and healthcare workers are advised to wear a surgical mask or respirator mask “at a minimum, for interaction with patients with respiratory viral symptoms”.

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The guidance also recommends that masks should be offered to patients in open or multi-bed wards who are exposed to other symptomatic patients.

The HPSC says the transmission of Covid-19 in hospitals in the early phases of the pandemic was “extremely difficult to control” but the situation, “while it remains challenging especially during surges in community transmission, has improved greatly”.

“The emergence of Omicron variants is an additional challenge. Vaccination and booster vaccination play a central role in limiting infection and severe disease associated with Omicron variants in the acute hospital, as in other settings,” it said.

“Vaccination, together with other measures as outlined makes it possible to manage the risk of spread of COVID-19 while maintaining the delivery of timely and appropriate care to the patient.”

Damien McCallion, chief operations officer with the HSE, said it would review the HPSC’s updated public health guidance in relation to the relaxation of mask wearing in the hospital system.

“We will look at that across the country. It [the guidance] does leave flexibility in relation to decision making around hospitals in terms of what environments masks may or may not be used in. So there will be still flexibility in that regard and we will follow the public health advice that is provided on that,” Mr McCallion told RTÉ Radio.

“In some instances, hospitals perhaps have all sorts of constraints in terms of their building and infrastructure and then depending on different wards... There is flexibility in that guidance that will allow hospitals to make those decisions at a local level and that is important in terms of the guidance that is issued and from a staff and public perspective that will be clearly communicated locally if there are changes.”