Covid-19: Swindon hospital boss wants return of mandatory face masks

A hospital boss has said reinstating measures such as face masks would help to alleviate pressure on the NHS.

Chief executive of Great Western Hospital (GWH), Swindon, Kevin McNamara, said he supported masks being made mandatory in public spaces again.

He said 99% of beds are occupied at GWH and numbers are moving in the wrong direction as winter approaches.

"Masks are something I would encourage to be used personally and adopted nationally," he said.

The south west currently has the top 10 highest case rates in England with a sharp rise in figures partially attributed to 43,000 people wrongly being told they had tested negative due to errors at a private laboratory.

Mr McNamara said the number of Covid patients was comparable and at times had exceeded what was seen last November during lockdown.

"That's a real worry as we go into winter," he said. "The science has proven that masks work and we've seen the limit of community transmission when we were being really mindful and conscious about our interactions with other people."

He said there were 62 Covid patients in the hospital, up from 49 last week and the number of patients in intensive care had doubled to eight in a week, with the majority of them unvaccinated.

Deborah Lee, chief executive of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said they were "more or less operating a one in, one out policy".

"Every one of our beds is full today. It's very busy; as busy as I can remember it," she said.

Ms Lee said Covid patient numbers had doubled to 43 having been stable at about 20 for many months.

"This is an unusual period due to the misreporting from the lab, so it'll be a week or two before we can be really clear about the scale of the rises but without doubt cases are on the increase," she said.

Bath MP Wera Hobhouse MP called the lab results errors a "scandal" and that it has "definitely contributed to the spread of Covid".

Face coverings are currently not mandatory, but some businesses and transport operators can request for them to be worn.

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