Recommendation 10

The widespread adoption of continuous facemask wearing in health and social care settings has made effective communication impossible for patients and healthcare professionals who lip-read, and much more difficult for Deaf people who use British Sign Language and people with disabilities which mean they are more reliant on facial expressions for communication. We therefore strongly welcome the development of medically approved transparent facemasks and the Government’s procurement of 250,000 pieces for distribution in the NHS and to social care providers. This is a good first step towards fully meeting the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty and reasonable adjustment obligations to disabled people, by ensuring that clear facemasks are readily accessible across the whole health and social care system, based on need. We are not, however, aware of any analysis of the adequacy of 250,000 masks to meet current or ongoing needs. We ask that the Department of Health and Social Care update us, in its response to this Report, on: progress in distributing clear face masks to NHS Trusts; the effectiveness of the pilot system to distribute the masks to social care providers through Local Resilience Forums; its assessment of the level of need for clear facemasks across health and social care services; and its plans for further procurement and distribution.