Attending hospital with flu!

I would have complained at the time and I insisted on him wearing a mask. wouldn't make you popular but you would have been safer. I would still raise a complaint now.

I have just had a viral infection for 2 weeks. My GP told me that it's infectious as long as I am coughing or sneezing. Surely some measures should have been taken by staff to avoid transmission during treatment!

The nurse should have taken him to another room and taken his temp.
There is no way he should have been allowed to sit next to anyone.

VeeScott

A mask protects other people from what you might have. If you are wearing a mask it does not protect you from what an unmasked person might have.

I think I prefer to take the advice of WHO and my clinicians

Masks should be used as part of a comprehensive strategy of measures to suppress transmission and save lives; the use of a mask alone is not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection against COVID-19.

If COVID-19 is spreading in your community, stay safe by taking some simple precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning your hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue. Check local advice where you live and work. Do it all!

Make wearing a mask a normal part of being around other people. The appropriate use, storage and cleaning or disposal of masks are essential to make them as effective as possible.

However, I am will to read any alternative evidence, that they are ineffective.

A mask protects other people from what you might have. If you are wearing a mask it does not protect you from what an unmasked person might have.

i still always wear a mask in shops hospital etc this is mainly because I have COPD and want to do my best to avoid any illness that could land me in hospital because its gone onto my lungs but also to be one less person for our over stretched hospitals to treat

ParlorGames

This type of irresponsible behaviour is a pet hate of mine and makes me really angry. Why didn't the man speak to the staff on arrival to explain his situation - finding him a more isolated position couldn't have been difficult surely?
It also annoys me when the staff do the rounds on a ward taking basic obs - BP, pulse etc - and the fail to wipe the equipment between patients. I have only ever seen this happen once and I commented on it to the Care Assistant at the time. He replied "we should all do that, it is part of basic training" .
No wonder so many bugs and infections get passed around in hospitals.

Glad I'm not the only one annoyed by this.

According to the ward sister last time I was in hospital, they are all supposed to wipe the cuff in between patients, as it is indeed part of their basic training. And there's usually a pack of those 'Clinnel' wipes in the basket attached to the BP monitor which they wheel around. They just don't bother.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Valdali, the appointment l had was with a private doctor; a clinic as l said. The woman with flu was not there because of flu - she should have seen her own gp if she was worried about her flu - she was attending the clinic for the same reason l was. I would imagine almost everyone else, including the doctor, was infected by her selfishness. I am a lifelong asthmatic and it would be very easy for me to get pneumonia because of flu. Thankfully I did not.

I live in the US, and in all the medical buildings I attend, everyone wears masks, both staff and patients. Also, when I take my dogs to the vet’s, masks are required; not the pets obviously, before anyone makes that joke!!!

I work as a Reablement Worker with people who have been discharged from hospital, I have had a cold and cough since last November, I have constantly hand washed, double masked and worn PPE. I haven't been ill enough to go sick from work until last week, when I ended up with a chest infection and temperature and have been to weak and feeble to actually work.
I would have been devastated to have passed my germs on to my clients and to my knowledge none of them caught my germs. There is no way I could have taken 6 weeks off work.

If someone has flu and then starts to deteriorate, surely they have to seek medical attention? & surely a GP is a better place to go than A&E, especially at the moment? I have much sympathy with the OP but the poster who thought the patient with flu should have rearranged her GP appointment I can't understand - the chances are she was there because of her flu & if she'd rearranged she may have been unable to attend the next appointment because she was in hospital with pneumonia due to not seeking help in time.GPs aren't only for elective appontments...

As a continuation from my post above. I’m exempt and CEV but still suffer a mask when I go out. Not only for myself but to protect others too.

I still remember the time, around fifteen years ago, when I was in a doctor's waiting room and a woman came in in a terrible state. She informed everyone that she had been awake all the previous night with flu. These appointments were all non-urgent as it was more in the nature of a clinic. She did not have the common sense or manners to rearrange her appointment. Two days later, l woke up with all those symptoms. It was, indeed proper flu and l needed a week off work, which, as I am self-employed, l did not appreciate. I think some people are incredibly selfish.

Now we've got more rising covid of many different types- strep A- flu- scarlett fever- polio and all sorts on the blinking rise this winter! And yet STILL no proper rules put back in place!

The phrase "we are all responsible for our own actions" is just a get out clause the Tories decided to use so that they would not have deal with any more covid/health issues getting out of control and to enable the whole conservative party/mp's to get away with doing as they wished/going where they wished/with whom they wished.! Nothing to do with actual health & safety of ourselves & others at all. Why should everyone suffer just for Tories to do what they want without punishment.

Yes seadragon- we KNOW that already- but theres a LOT of people who just cant be bothered and they are playing on this 'get out clause' to avoid wearing them.Even my son who has severe uncontrolled asthma said he doesnt understand why asthma sufferers etc would NOT want to wear a mask as thats more reason TO- rather than not to.He will wear his and at times has worn two together- he even wears it all day when in college.So for the half hour or so in an appt seems a reasonable request i think.I suffer from dry mouth, made worse by masks but i still do wear it.(i just make sure i take a bottle of water with me to sip if its too dry) I believe hospitals had previously relaxed rules in the outpatient clinics in some hospitals.Goodness knows why, as its only going to all escalate like that.🙄

This happened when i went last week to a warfarin clinic to get my INR checked- all along since covid began our local hospitals have still insisted we wear masks, theres some free on entrance to hosp- and gel hands etc- but i'd noticed very recent theres been 2or 3 attnding without- i think they must just say they are allowed? Not a problem if they are ok and not ill as theyre still spacing out the seats as well with tape showing which to use- but one lady arrived and she was obviously very ill- coughing really badly as well- so much so the nurse got her a drink from water machine & asked if she was alright?- and lady actually said "oh im not well at all no, but i didnt want to miss my appt"! - I was so annoyed about it i DID mention it to other nurse when i had to go in the room where she had just been in- (they prick our thumb for blood sample then we queue again to see a nurse in another room for warfarin dosage) I said she had admitted coming in ill &why.I pointed out she should have just rung to rearrange when better.Nurse agreed. But yet i doubt they'd told her so.I insisted nurse made sure she'd gelled her hands again before attending to me (although she said she had) But i was making sure. I was so annoyed about it because i know if ive ever felt under the weather i have just rang up & said so & they have rearranged my appt.Simple! That lady must have known that she could /should have done so.I read this week that a lot of hospitals have asked people to go back to mask wearing due to strain they are already under.🤔

Not as serious as your experience, but I went to my GP today, none of the staff and only one of the patients was wearing a mask. There were signs everywhere about wearing masks on the premises and even a video running about Test and Trace.
It really is shocking that you were exposed to an infectious person when you were visiting for treatment.

Yes I do think you should raise your concerns. I would have to have said at the time that I wasn't comfortable being close to someone coughing so much with my weakened immune system. I would have asked if, at the very least, he could wear a mask and I certainly would have popped one on myself. Bit shocked that this wasn't suggested by the nurses or doctors and I hope they wore theirs but we are all responsible for our own actions. I do hope none of you come down with anything and that the man himself improves. Such worrying times. I have even started wearing my mask again when shopping.

If you are not able to wear a face covering
Face coverings are no longer required by law in England, but remain a requirement under infection prevention control (IPC) guidance in healthcare settings. There are some circumstances where people may not be able to wear a face covering.
Please be mindful and respectful of such circumstances. Some people are less able to wear face coverings, and the reasons for this may not be visible to others.
This includes (but is not limited to):
children under the age of 11 (the UK Health Security Agency does not recommend face coverings for children under the age of 3 for health and safety reasons)
people who cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability
people for whom putting on, wearing or removing a face covering will cause severe distress
people speaking to or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip reading, clear sound or facial expressions to communicate
to avoid the risk of harm or injury to yourself or others
police officers and other emergency workers, given that this may interfere with their ability to serve the public

I was at the Aand E at my local hospital this week and everyone was masked and anyone entering without or not picking up one of those provided was asked to mask up

A bit judgemental Gabrielle. I am genuinely exempt, with COPD (an I have never smoked, just my bad luck) and heart failure, which makes me extremely breathless.
There are occasions, when the mask has to come off.

I would never have considered going to hospital in that condition, but the other side of the story is that not having a regular infusion can lead to complications, as I well know!

exempt? maybe he should stay at home when spluttering all over everyone then , seeing as he can;t wear a face covering? i met quite a few "exemptees" during covid years and every one of them was a frantic loudmouth who charged about making a spectacle of themselves to draw attention to that fact. there's always one(many) who think theyre special case! the true special cases are invisible by their reservedness

I am exempt, but wear one in hosp settings for a long as I can bear it.
If he was exempt and had an infection, he should have been isolated from those patients, who were immunocompromised.
The staff present failed those vulnerable patients.
Whenever I am in hospital for an infusion, everyone in the room is masked.
No exceptions.