Social distancing scrapped in waiting rooms in England

People will now be able to sit next to each other in waiting rooms

Patients in waiting rooms in England are no longer required to socially distance.

The new "stepping down" rules apply to NHS hospitals, GP surgeries and emergency departments.

People will still be encouraged to wear face masks and practise good hygiene.

In a letter to local health services, NHS England bosses said rules needed to "adapt" with Covid-19, because the virus was widely circulating and likely to remain endemic for some time.

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Cleaning routines in England's hospitals have also been changed.

Patients with Covid will have to isolate for a week instead of 10 days.

And those exposed to the virus but without symptoms will not have to isolate at all.

Testing rules were changed in England earlier this month, as part of the government's Living with Covid plan.

'Vulnerable people'

Senior NHS bosses said they were changing the rules because of "the pressure from Covid-19 continuing".

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS providers, which represents hospital trusts, said: "We need to keep reviewing our infection-control measures.

"We know at the moment that they are very important to protect vulnerable people but they also make it a lot more complex to run a hospital, get through care backlogs and provide emergency care.

"What these rules are saying is each individual hospital needs to review where it is up to in terms of local infection rates but also seeing how many rooms they have in a hospital too."

'Unprecedented pressure'

There is much concern over accident-and-emergency waiting times and a backlog of planned surgeries.

Asked in Parliament, on Tuesday afternoon, about backlogs in the NHS, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "The NHS and social care are facing unprecedented pressure because of the pandemic.

"In NHS settings and adult social care, there has been a necessity for infection-protection controls.

"Staff absences have been higher than in normal times but the NHS has been stepping forward to bring support with the record funding that the government is providing both to the NHS and to adult social care."