Social distancing

It’s essential to keep your distance from other people – including staff and patients – where this is possible, so as to limit the risk of spreading the virus.

Remember the four rules of social distancing when moving about our hospitals:Keep your distance – Keep a 2 metre (6 and a half feet) gap between yourself and other people where possible. That's the length of a hospital bed.Follow the signs – Look out for signs giving instructions on the walls and floors of our hospitals about where to walk or stand. These are here to keep everyone safe.Keep left – When walking along corridors or up and down stairs, remember to always keep to the left hand side - this helps everyone to keep their distance.Do your best! We’ve made every effort to make it easy to keep a safe distance when moving around our hospitals with signs and directions. If in doubt – use your common sense!

Social distancing in common areas

Corridors

Signage is in place across our sites urging all staff and visitors to keep to the left in corridors. This will allow people to move around the Trust smoothly, reducing social contact. Additionally, please also:

• Do not have ‘corridor conversations’ - even with masks on
• Ensure corridors are not used as waiting areas
• Direct visitors and patients to follow the signage accordingly
• Ensure items are not stored in corridors, unless it is absolutely necessary
• Be self-conscious about your surroundings - it's better to wait five seconds to let someone pass with space, rather than try and squeeze past.

It's important teams are discussing amongst themselves when lunch breaks can be staggered, and, where possible, taken outside the busy hour of 12 midday - 1 pm. This will help lessen the peak in congestion seen in corridors around this time.

Meetings

Meeting organisers should consider the following:

• Meetings should always be virtual, unless a physical meeting is needed in a clinical setting.

• Where meetings have to take place in a clinical setting, face-to-face social distancing must be maintained during the meeting. Attendees should be limited to key individuals, who should wear masks throughout the meeting.

For education and training sessions, please note the following:

• Unless there is a compelling reason for the education/training to be conducted in person (e.g. to train a clinical or practical skill), it must be delivered via an online/virtual platform.
• All face-to-face teaching must conform with the Trust'

For more information on social distancing in your work area, take a look at the Covid-secure workplace section.