An NHS hospital which upgraded the type of face masks used by staff on Covid-19 wards saw a massive fall in hospital-acquired coronavirus among those workers.
Infections among the staff were completely eradicated in Covid wards at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, research has indicated.
Masks used by staff on Covid-19 wards were upgraded from fluid resistant surgical masks (FRSMs) to filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirators, with the change made in late December in response to its own staff testing data.
The UK Infection Prevention Control (IPC) cell had, until recently, recommended that healthcare workers caring for Covid-19 patients should use FRSMs as respiratory protective equipment. The IPC cell recommended that an FFP3 respirator should be used if an aerosol-generating procedure were being carried out, such as inserting a breathing tube into the patient’s windpipe.
Guidance has recently been updated to encourage NHS to assess the risk that Covid-19 poses to staff and provide FFP3 respirators where appropriate.
Addenbrooke’s testing programme indicated that healthcare workers caring for Covid-19 patients were at greater risk of infection than staff on non-Covid-19 wards, even when using the recommended respiratory protective equipment.
In response, the hospital’s infection control committee upgraded the type of masks used by staff on Covid-19 wards. Following the change in protective equipment, the incidence of infection on the two types of ward was similar.
Dr Chris Illingworth, from the MRC Biostatistics Unit at Cambridge University, said: “Before the face masks were upgraded, the majority of infections among healthcare workers on the Covid-19 wards were likely due to direct exposure to patients with Covid-19.
“Once FFP3 respirators were introduced, the number of cases attributed to exposure on Covid-19 wards dropped dramatically – in fact, our model suggests that FFP3 respirators may have cut ward-based infection to zero.”
Dr Michael Weekes, from Cambridge University’s Department of Medicine, said: “Our data suggests there’s an urgent need to look at the PPE offered to healthcare workers on the frontline.
“Upgrading the equipment so that FFP3 masks are offered to all healthcare workers caring for patients with Covid-19 could reduce the number of infections, keep more hospital staff safe and remove some of the burden on already stretched healthcare services caused by absence of key staff due to illness."
