Welcome team created at Maelor Hospital as “some people refuse to wear a mask”

A “Welcome Team” has been installed after some people “refused” to wear masks at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Staff are handing out hand sanitiser, disposable face masks and advice.

As we reported yesterday the Health Board has said the “majority of new cases identified in the past few days have been as a result of community transmission”, and gave a figure of 63 confirmed COVID-19 cases at the hospital.

Last weekend the Health Board said, “We are now actively encouraging patients, the public and staff to wear face coverings or masks in public areas of all Health Board sites.”

On the mask use, the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service have said “some people refused to wear them at Wrexham Maelor Hospital”.

Hospital managing director Gareth Robinson said yesterday: “We continue to ask for the public’s help in managing the spread of Covid-19 in our communities and ask patients, the public and staff to wear face coverings in public areas of our hospitals.

“We want to limit the number of visitors to our hospital sites and as hospital visiting is still suspended, we are asking that you only have someone accompany you if necessary.”

“If you are unable to attend an appointment please notify us as soon as possible.”

“We have recently introduced a welcome team at the entrances to Wrexham Maelor Hospital between the hours of  8am and 6pm.”

“Our welcome team are able to provide hand sanitiser, disposable face masks and advice on infection prevention.”

“This team is currently made up of hospital staff, but we are currently exploring the possibility of this work being undertaken by volunteers.”

Patients found to have contracted the coronavirus strain are being moved to Covid wards at the hospital and more have been found as testing increased.

Those who remain negative are still being tested every five days according the Public Health Wales guidelines.

By Jez Hemming – BBC Local Democracy Reporter / Wrexham.com