• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

More NHS Mask Shenanigans – Will It Ever End?

by Paul Stevens
7 January 2023 5:00 PM

For some time now it has been crystal clear that the existence of so-called ‘mask mandates’ within the NHS is a postcode lottery.

Whether you are expected to ‘mask up’ in your GP surgery or hospital is often entirely due to the personal whims of local managers and bureaucrats. Ever since June of last year, when NHS management changed its ‘guidance’ to remove the mandatory requirement to wear face coverings as a default across the entire health service, decision-making has been left to local institutions.

As previous investigations have shown, one group of usual suspects responsible for the imposition of ineffectual masks are those who are part of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) departments. However, as The Covid Physician describes in the Hallowe’en 2022 section of his ‘end of year’ missive, anyone who has the mojo for imposing restrictions can be part of the mask police; from junior GP receptionists to senior trust managers. All it seems to take to rekindle fear amongst the public and colleagues is an unshakeable belief in one’s ‘right think’ and virtue, combined with a total unwillingness to consider any other information or perspective.

The latest example of this masking madness can be found in the recent pronouncement of the combined Northampton and Kettering Hospitals Trusts where, because of a “significant increase in Covid, flu, RSV and norovirus infections”, masks have been reintroduced. Along with other regressive and soul-crushing measures, such as restricting patient visits, we are expected to believe that masks will “reduce infection risk”, “prevent the spread of infections” and “prevent staff absences”. Bearing in mind that none of these interventions have done anything to help in these matters in the past, why we are expected to believe that they will effect any change now stretches credulity beyond breaking point.

But then, when it comes to ‘following science’, Northampton and Kettering hospitals have a very poor track record, stretching back to the beginning of this Covid period. In June 2020, then-CEO Sonia Swart commented in her mask and face covering statement that, “Evidence has confirmed that face coverings can help reduce the risk of transmission if someone is suffering from coronavirus but not showing symptoms – if they are asymptomatic”. What that evidence might have been, users of the hospitals’ services weren’t told, but they were reassured that, even though they could be “fabric, non-medical”, these masks would “help protect them and others”. This faith in the magical properties of pieces of cloth to protect against a tiny airborne virus was reiterated in the guidance that accompanied Dr. Swart’s message, noting that surgical masks were not “necessary”, coverings such as a scarf or bandana being “acceptable”.

And so it has continued, with the hospitals reintroducing masks in July 2022 as a response to the “U.K. experiencing a very significant spike in COVID-19 cases” and the “current variants being infectious”. In September these restrictions were relaxed, only to be reimposed in October for the same reasons and to serve the same goals of “protecting vulnerable people” and easing the impact of staff going sick.

As to who is responsible for these seesaw measures, the buck seems to stop with two individuals: Fay Gordon, Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Kettering Hospital Trust, and Palmer Winstanley, COO for Northampton Hospital Trust and non-voting member of the combined hospital group’s board. Winstanley, a former British Army captain, has worked within the NHS for about three years. (Irony of ironies, the Northampton IPC department won the Investors in the Environment “Best Waste Reduction Project” award in 2022 for its “be PPE free” campaign, which concentrated on reducing excessive use of personal protective equipment.)

In their public pronouncements, similar to Dr. Swart in 2020, neither Gordon nor Winstanley have chosen to share the evidential basis for their decisions to re-inflict mask misery on their patients. Like so many NHS management mavens, they seem unable – or unwilling – to understand that there is only weak and contradictory evidence that supports a position that a piece of damp cloth offers any protection against a virus, and plenty that shows they introduce risks and harms to the wearers.

Is this determination to ignore the facts and instead continue to use a mixture of faith and hope as a means of protecting the vulnerable based on anything other than blind belief? Or is it a pig-headed resolve never to admit an error of judgement; an example of the sunk cost fallacy in action? Either way, we have to hope, for the sake of the patients of Northampton and Kettering Hospitals, that things change and these mask manoeuvres come to an end soon.

Paul Stevens is a member of Smile Free, which campaigns for the end of mask mandates and masking.

Tags: CovidHospitalsMask MandatesMasksNHS

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Sargon vs Hitchens: This Year’s First Epic Twitter Debate 

Next Post

Disturbing Lockdown Drawings Show Effect on Children’s Mental Health

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

45 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic | Episode 40: Rob Bates on Stopping Britain Becoming Majority-Minority, Tilak Doshi on Trump vs Green Blob and Mario Trabucco on Osborne’s Elgin Marbles Betrayal

by Richard Eldred
13 June 2025
1

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

15 June 2025
by Will Jones

Green Council Branded “Absolutely Insane” After Painting Green Spots on Road to “Calm Traffic”

14 June 2025
by Will Jones

Pro-Palestine Protesters March Through London Waving Iranian Flags

14 June 2025
by Will Jones

The War in Ukraine Has Shattered the West’s Digital-Age Delusions

15 June 2025
by David Betz and Michael Rainsborough

Did the Mainstream Media Cover Up an Eco-Terror Attack in a French School?

15 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

The War in Ukraine Has Shattered the West’s Digital-Age Delusions

38

The Two-Stroke Engine of Brian Wilson

72

Pro-Palestine Protesters March Through London Waving Iranian Flags

29

Sir Keir Set to Launch Full National Inquiry Into Grooming Gangs in Latest U-turn, Following Months of Mounting Pressure

20

Landlords Face Higher Bills As New Net Zero Rules Kick in

17

The War in Ukraine Has Shattered the West’s Digital-Age Delusions

15 June 2025
by David Betz and Michael Rainsborough

Did the Mainstream Media Cover Up an Eco-Terror Attack in a French School?

15 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

Oxford is Now More or Less a Quango

14 June 2025
by Darren Gee

The Two-Stroke Engine of Brian Wilson

14 June 2025
by James Alexander

As a Civil Servant, I Can Tell You Dissent From DEI Dogma is Not Allowed

13 June 2025
by Anonymous Civil Servant

POSTS BY DATE

January 2023
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Dec   Feb »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

January 2023
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Dec   Feb »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

15 June 2025
by Will Jones

Green Council Branded “Absolutely Insane” After Painting Green Spots on Road to “Calm Traffic”

14 June 2025
by Will Jones

Pro-Palestine Protesters March Through London Waving Iranian Flags

14 June 2025
by Will Jones

The War in Ukraine Has Shattered the West’s Digital-Age Delusions

15 June 2025
by David Betz and Michael Rainsborough

Did the Mainstream Media Cover Up an Eco-Terror Attack in a French School?

15 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

The War in Ukraine Has Shattered the West’s Digital-Age Delusions

38

The Two-Stroke Engine of Brian Wilson

72

Pro-Palestine Protesters March Through London Waving Iranian Flags

29

Sir Keir Set to Launch Full National Inquiry Into Grooming Gangs in Latest U-turn, Following Months of Mounting Pressure

20

Landlords Face Higher Bills As New Net Zero Rules Kick in

17

The War in Ukraine Has Shattered the West’s Digital-Age Delusions

15 June 2025
by David Betz and Michael Rainsborough

Did the Mainstream Media Cover Up an Eco-Terror Attack in a French School?

15 June 2025
by Steven Tucker

Oxford is Now More or Less a Quango

14 June 2025
by Darren Gee

The Two-Stroke Engine of Brian Wilson

14 June 2025
by James Alexander

As a Civil Servant, I Can Tell You Dissent From DEI Dogma is Not Allowed

13 June 2025
by Anonymous Civil Servant

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment