Hospital bosses:?Staff should not cover faces

The review over the religious headdress has been announced after Health Minister Dan Poulter claimed that face coverings can be a barrier to good communication between health care professionals and patients.

He has now ordered a review of current advice and asked regulators to devise new uniform rules for health service guidelines.

Sandwell Hospital says it 'does not expect' staff to cover their faces. A spokesman said: "Our uniform policy permits any headwear on the grounds of religious belief. However, in the interests of infection control and prevention, and good communication, we do not expect staff to wear headwear that covers the face."

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust does not have a ban in place on face coverings.

Health Minister Dr Poulter told a national newspaper: "I am proud of the rich ethnic diversity of our health care workforce and support appropriate religious and cultural freedoms, but a vital part of good patient care is effective verbal and non-verbal communication. Being unable to see a health care professional's face can be a barrier to good and empathetic communication with patients and their families.

"That is why I am writing to all health care regulators to ask them to look into this matter and to review their professional regulations, to ensure that there is always appropriate face to face contact."

Home Secretary Theresa May said it is for women to 'make a choice' about their clothes, including veils, but said there will be some circumstances when it will be necessary to ask for them to be removed.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had a 'great deal of sympathy' for patients who do not want to be treated by a doctor or nurse wearing a veil, but he insisted that the matter was one for individual hospitals and professionals.