Harrogate hospital urges visitors to wear masks amid covid case rise

Harrogate District Hospital has urged visitors to wear a mask on inpatient wards following rising covid cases.

The district has seen a spike in cases of the virus this past month due to the spread of the more transmissible Omicron variant.

At the end of May, the district’s rate of infection was 55 people per 100,000. It is now 218.

Now, officials at the hospital have urged visitors to inpatient wards to wear a mask when coming to the hospital.

A statement from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:

“Due to rising covid-19 rates in the community, please can visitors wear a mask on our inpatient wards to protect our patients and staff, and prevent the spread of the virus.”

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Harrogate hospital is also treating 11 patients who tested positive for covid. However, none of those patients are in hospital primarily for treatment for the virus.

Last week, public health officials in North Yorkshire urged people to take measures to avoid covid after the rate surged.

Dr Victoria Turner, public health consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, said:

“Cases of covid are once again rising across the UK, including in North Yorkshire.

“The latest increase is being driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron, which has also caused high rates in other countries across the world.

“There is evidence that BA.4 and BA.5 are more transmissible than previous variants, and there is limited protection from infection with previous variants against BA.4 and BA.5.”

Harrogate council HQ ‘like the Mary Celeste’, says councillor

A councillor has compared Harrogate Borough Council‘s headquarters at Knapping Mount to the abandoned ghost ship the Mary Celeste, due to the number of staff still working from home.

The multi-million-pound Civic Centre opened in 2017 and can accommodate up to 500 council workers. However, the council is still encouraging many staff to work from home despite lockdown restrictions being removed.

Nick Brown, the Conservative councillor for Bishop Monkton and Newby, told the Stray Ferret yesterday that he was unsatisfied with the response of Conservative council leader Richard Cooper to a question he asked at a council meeting last week.

Cllr Cooper said decisions about working practices should be made by senior officers rather than councillors.

Cllr Brown told the Stray Ferret:

“We councillors agreed to spend £13m on a new Civic Centre, opened in 2017, for officers to work in. Yet the leader now tells us that it is not members’ business to require council officers to work there.

“Prior to the covid pandemic, the Civic Centre was a busy place where I as a councillor could find the officers that I wished to speak to. Now it is like the Mary Celeste!”.

Cllr Brown believes ending the work from home policy would “benefit the local economy”.

He added:

“Our Conservative Prime Minister has given a clear message to end working from home in the public sector, in order to boost the economy.

“As a Conservative-led council, I believe we should get officers back at their desks and using the Civic Centre.”

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The public sector workers union Unison said it “broadly supports” the council’s decision to allow staff to work from home.

David Houlgate, branch secretary for the Harrogate district, told the Stray Ferret council staff proved during the pandemic they can work from home effectively.

He added:

“We believe the government’s Living with Covid strategy to scrap all remaining covid rules in England was reckless.

“So we broadly support this cautious approach taken by Harrogate Borough Council about returning to the Civic Centre at this time.

“Staff have demonstrated over a two-year period that they can deliver vital public services whether or not they are in the office or working from home.

“We’re confident that that can continue, though poor pay does present an ever increasing risk.”

‘Agile working’

The Stray Ferret has asked the council for the number of staff currently working from home who would normally be in the Civic Centre.

A council spokesperson said:

“Following the updated guidance in relation to the end of Plan B measures, staff are permitted to work from the office should they wish to or are required to do so.

“The number of staff using said office(s) differs day-by-day so it would be difficult to provide a comprehensive figure. Staff also come and go from the office depending on their job role; housing and planning officers for example.

“And while covid has seen a significant increase in staff working from home – and rightly so – many staff were already doing so. The civic centre was designed in such a way that staff could hybrid work or ‘hot desk’ if they so wished.

“Agile working is something adopted by many local authorities and companies long before covid and is one of the many benefits of working for Harrogate Borough Council.”

 

Covid causes Harrogate residents to seek the perfect smile

There’s been a rise in demand for cosmetic dental treatments from teeth whitening to full smile makeovers according to Harrogate dentists who specialise in the field. Treatments such as veneers and composite bonding are at much higher levels than 18 months ago.

Now we are venturing out again and social calendars are filling up, people are looking to fix the things that have always bothered them, like crooked smiles or stained teeth.

Constant Zoom video calls during the pandemic also caused the ‘mirror effect’ meaning there’s no escaping hours looking at your dental imperfections.

Dr Shoreh Ghasmi, from The Harrogate Clinic

Dr Shoreh Ghasmi, who runs The Harrogate Clinic, on Prospect Crescent, said:

“I think everybody now wants to do something nice for their smile. Before they didn’t care that much.

“Many people stayed at home during the pandemic and have been using Zoom and I think it makes them aware of their smile and the state of their teeth. I have many patients now who have said they think they look awful on Zoom and don’t want to smile.

“Also when people have stayed at home, their partners have seen them much more and have noticed their teeth, so that’s another reason they are wanting to improve them.

“One of the crucial things is people are removing their masks and they are seeing much more of their smiles. Where as before when everybody had masks, people got used to their teeth. Now half of their face isn’t under a mask all of a sudden.”

Dr Jatinder ‘Sonny’ Sagoo, clinical director of Clover House dental practice, on Skipton Road, said he had also noticed a significant increase in elective treatments in the wake of the pandemic, as well as treatments to secure and maintain dental health.

He said:

“The two have to go hand-in-hand for long term successful outcomes. Although patients do come in asking for specific treatments we find it best to have a detailed conversation of the outcome they desire and then working out the best way of achieving it. Sometimes simple interventions can make a remarkable difference. With modern dentistry we increasingly make use of digital technologies to help plan, visualise and deliver results.

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Dr Sagoo also said people have money to spend after a year of lockdown:

He said:

“In addition the inability to make other discretionary spending, such as holidays and eating out, probably means there is a higher level of disposable income available. Costs of treatments can now be easily spread over several months, making treatment more affordable from monthly cash flow.

“Dental treatments have also become really accessible and easier to tolerate, for example clear and invisible braces that straighten teeth without anyone knowing about the treatment.

“I definitely agree Zoom is a factor. In normal circumstances you can’t see your own smile, so it’s easier to ignore it if there’s something that’s not right.

“When you see your smile on the monitor – now often in high res – it can be a prompt. People generally want to present themselves in the best possible light and with Zoom the only bit of the person you normally see is their face and smile.”

Dr Jatinder ‘Sonny’ Sagoo, from Clover House dental practice

There has also been a notable increase in the number of adults getting braces in a bid for straighter teeth, said Dr Sagoo.

He said:

“In the noughties there was a marked trend in instant smile makeovers using ceramic veneers and crowns. If teeth were not straight they could be disguised to look straight.

“Whilst this gave instant results, there were long term consequences such as damage to enamel and dentine and also eventually the ceramics needed replacing.

“With the advent of clear aligner and invisible brace systems, it became easier and more acceptable to move crowded teeth so they were straight.

“If you couple this with tooth whitening to lift the colour and cosmetic bonding to make subtle refinements, it became easier to get great results and keep the natural tooth perfectly intact.

“The “Align, Bleach, Bond” method is much more conservative in its approach and therefore better for long term dental health.”

Successful teeth whitening and cosmetic recontouring at Clover House dental practice

 

An example of composite bonding at Clover House dental practice

 

 

Whitening and composite bonding at The Harrogate Clinic

 

An example of dental aesthetic treatment at The Harrogate Clinic

Harrogate bus passenger worried by lack of face masks

A Harrogate bus passenger has complained to the bus company after finding that more than half of people on board were not wearing face masks.

Chris Hill had just paid his fare on Monday when he realised that only two people out of five on the bus were wearing face masks.

It has been the law to wear face mask on public transport since June but there are some exceptions to the rule.

When Mr Hill questioned the driver he said that drivers do not have to enforce any rules or question anyone.

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Unhappy with that response, he took his complaint to the parent company of the Harrogate Bus Company Transdev and the Stray Ferret. He said:

“I think that if you drive around with a sign saying the buses are clean and safe then you have to enforce this. It’s not a problem on trains.

“When someone gets on the bus they should be able to prove that they have an exemption. If not the driver should refuse entry.

“If the bus driver cannot enforce the rules then they should make that clear to other passengers who may feel at risk. It’s difficult but more can be done.”

Frank Stanisauskis, the general manager of The Harrogate Bus Company, said:

“Since the rules came into place in June we’ve taken several steps to make sure all our customers know that, unless they are exempt, they need to wear a face covering.

“That includes giving away free face coverings, selling our own reusable ones in our bus station shop, adding notices visible when customers board and alongside every row of seats on the bus, as well as including information about face coverings to our audio announcements on board.

“Because the Government has allowed some broad exemptions to the face covering rules, many of which relate to disabilities or difficulties which are not visible, we do still expect to see customers on board who aren’t wearing one.

Buses are clean and safe – reported as ‘the safest places on earth’ by leading scientists, and backed up by national and international studies into covid-19. We can reassure any customer, that when they are on board our buses we’ve taken every precaution to ensure their safety and that of our driving and cleaning teams.”