BackMore masking choice for patients and visitors. Healthcare workers continue to mask when providing direct patient care
May 26, 2023
Beginning Monday, May 29, 2023, Halton Healthcare is moving to the next phase of a mask friendly facility approach. Patients and visitors will have the choice to wear a face mask at Halton Healthcare facilities including the three hospitals – Georgetown Hospital, Milton District Hospital and Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. Face mask dispensers are available at all main entrances for those who prefer to continue to wear one.
Staff, physicians and volunteers will continue to wear a mask when providing direct patient care in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
Visitors coming to Halton Healthcare facilities are still required to answer standard self-screening questions and sanitize their hands. Patients with a fever or respiratory symptoms will be required to wear a mask. Everyone is encouraged to wear a mask while in busy waiting rooms and emergency departments.
“The decision to update our masking requirements was made as hospitals across the province continue to give people more choice based on their own health and comfort level. We are taking a phased approach toward mask friendly facilities, rather than making masks mandatory in all settings,” explains Cindy McDonell, Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations at Halton Healthcare. “Decisions on when and where the use of personal protective equipment, such as masks, is needed will continue to be based on Public Health Ontario guidelines and informed by our infectious disease experts.”
Halton Healthcare continues to monitor respiratory illness in our hospitals and communities and will make changes to masking policies as needed.
More information related to Halton Healthcare’s COVID-19 safety protocols are available on our website at www.haltonhealthcare.com.