Michael Ejercito
2024-11-04 01:37:24 UTC
https://www.reddit.com/r/LockdownSkepticism/comments/1givfyd/the_curse_of_masks_in_health_and_social_care/
The Curse of Masks in Health and Social Care: Testimony From the
Scottish Covid Inquiry
by Dr Gary Sidley 3 November 2024 1:00 PM
The U.K. Covid Inquiry – aka a hugely expensive façade striving to
justify the dominant ‘pandemic’ narrative – is up and running again, and
its chairperson, Lady Hallett, is continuing where she left off in her
refusal to acknowledge any significant harms of mass masking. “Some
might say getting an ulcer isn’t as bad as getting Covid” she quips
during an interview with Dr. Susan Hopkins from the U.K. Health Security
Agency. Thankfully, the Scottish Covid Inquiry has been much more open
and impartial, as demonstrated by its willingness to address the
profound negative consequences of wearing face coverings in health and
social care settings. In particular, personal stories describing the
dehumanising impacts upon care home residents have been truly harrowing
– Lady Hallett could usefully incorporate these testimonies into her
bedtime reading.
One powerful example was the verbal evidence of Alison Walker, a former
BBC sports presenter, who endured the trauma of both her parents
residing in a care home in 2020. Alison witnessed the mental and
physical deterioration of her mum and dad during the Covid event, and
eloquently described the prominent role that masked caregivers played in
this decline:
If you are surrounded by a group of people 24/7 wearing masks, and you
don’t see people smile for up to two years, what kind of effect is that
going to have on your mental health and wellbeing?
(5th video)
Surrounding residents of care homes with people wearing masks for such a
long period had a huge impact on them, this in conjunction with
isolating them from their loved ones and everything they know was
catastrophic.
(8th video)
The devastating consequences of denying confused elderly people human
connection – a synergy that is largely contingent on seeing the smiles
and facial expressions of other people – was repeatedly endorsed by
personnel representing frontline caring organisations. Thus, the closing
statement to the Inquiry from ‘Care Home Relatives Scotland’ (a
community group advocating for people who have loved ones in nursing and
residential settings) included the damning conclusion:
The evidence demonstrated that the use of masks caused distress,
confusion and considerable difficulties with communication. Residents
couldn’t see smiles, had difficulty recognising relatives and those with
hearing difficulties couldn’t lip-read or read facial expressions or
visual clues. Some witnesses spoke to being made to wear them, even for
window visits. Lucy Challoner said that her gran felt that people were
laughing at her behind them.
(There seems to have been some formal recognition of these mask-related
communication problems in 2021 when NHS Scotland spent over £5 million
of taxpayers’ money on transparent masks, only for them to be
subsequently deemed to be defective).
Masks often resulted in visiting times degenerating into an especially
frustrating experience, as indicated in the closing statement of
‘Independent Care Homes Scotland’ (a group comprising 12 independent
care home operators). Regarding window/garden visits, they recalled:
…residents not being able to hear relatives properly during these types
of visit due to physical barriers (window/masks) and/or distancing
regulations… many residents did not understand why masks, for instance,
were having to be worn or who suffered from poor hearing and/or who
relied on lip reading to communicate. This often led to distress for
residents …
Indoor visits at Homes were later permitted but again these were
burdened with social distance and PPE wearing regulation which greatly
affected residents, relatives and staff and which gave rise to awkward,
unnatural and at times distressing encounters for all concerned.
Another service provider, ‘Central Scotland Care Homes’, also
highlighted the insidious effect of masks on social interactions between
residents and their loved ones:
Garden visits were described as being “horrendous” with no privacy. They
were impractical in the Scottish climate and visitors had to shout to be
heard while wearing masks and sitting two meters apart.
It was not only elderly residents with dementia who suffered from the
mask mania operating within our health and social care sector. Younger
people struggling with profound/multiple learning difficulties (PMLD)
were also victims of this ideologically driven obsession:
The use of face masks caused concern because many people with PMLD could
not tolerate face masks. Facial expression is a key method for
communication. A mask makes it very difficult for a person with PLMD to
see a supporter’s or carer’s facial expressions. Furthermore, masks
could significantly compromise health where the user has respiratory issues.
And the harms of long-term mask wearing were not confined to those
receiving care: the professional caregivers also experienced negative
consequences. Suzanne Napier, a social care worker with Turning Point
and a union representative, told the Inquiry about the physical symptoms
she and her daughter endured as a direct result of prolonged mask wearing:
I never in my life had sinusitis before and I had it really… really
badly and still at times suffer for it… I feel that had a real
detrimental effect to myself and others… Even people within my family
are suffering from it, regular sinusitis now… My daughter is a nurse…
her face would be red raw… literally from wearing a mask.
These honest testimonies from people directly involved in looking after
highly vulnerable service users vividly convey the profound harms of
mask requirements in health and social care. Similarly damning are the
experiences of clinical experts – captured in Smile Free’s upcoming
short film, Masking Humanity – that vividly convey the enormous harms of
masks in these settings. Those in positions of power and influence –
such as Lady Hallett – should take heed of these personal accounts from
those at the sharp end and do their bit to ensure that the blanket
imposition of de-humanising face coverings never happens again.
Dr. Gary Sidley is a retired NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist and
co-founder of the Smile Free campaign opposed to mask mandates.
Subscribe to his Substack page.
[A special thank you to Dave, the independent researcher at
BiologyPhenom, for his tireless efforts to publicise the Scottish
COVID-19 Inquiry. This article relies heavily upon his sterling work.]
The Curse of Masks in Health and Social Care: Testimony From the
Scottish Covid Inquiry
by Dr Gary Sidley 3 November 2024 1:00 PM
The U.K. Covid Inquiry – aka a hugely expensive façade striving to
justify the dominant ‘pandemic’ narrative – is up and running again, and
its chairperson, Lady Hallett, is continuing where she left off in her
refusal to acknowledge any significant harms of mass masking. “Some
might say getting an ulcer isn’t as bad as getting Covid” she quips
during an interview with Dr. Susan Hopkins from the U.K. Health Security
Agency. Thankfully, the Scottish Covid Inquiry has been much more open
and impartial, as demonstrated by its willingness to address the
profound negative consequences of wearing face coverings in health and
social care settings. In particular, personal stories describing the
dehumanising impacts upon care home residents have been truly harrowing
– Lady Hallett could usefully incorporate these testimonies into her
bedtime reading.
One powerful example was the verbal evidence of Alison Walker, a former
BBC sports presenter, who endured the trauma of both her parents
residing in a care home in 2020. Alison witnessed the mental and
physical deterioration of her mum and dad during the Covid event, and
eloquently described the prominent role that masked caregivers played in
this decline:
If you are surrounded by a group of people 24/7 wearing masks, and you
don’t see people smile for up to two years, what kind of effect is that
going to have on your mental health and wellbeing?
(5th video)
Surrounding residents of care homes with people wearing masks for such a
long period had a huge impact on them, this in conjunction with
isolating them from their loved ones and everything they know was
catastrophic.
(8th video)
The devastating consequences of denying confused elderly people human
connection – a synergy that is largely contingent on seeing the smiles
and facial expressions of other people – was repeatedly endorsed by
personnel representing frontline caring organisations. Thus, the closing
statement to the Inquiry from ‘Care Home Relatives Scotland’ (a
community group advocating for people who have loved ones in nursing and
residential settings) included the damning conclusion:
The evidence demonstrated that the use of masks caused distress,
confusion and considerable difficulties with communication. Residents
couldn’t see smiles, had difficulty recognising relatives and those with
hearing difficulties couldn’t lip-read or read facial expressions or
visual clues. Some witnesses spoke to being made to wear them, even for
window visits. Lucy Challoner said that her gran felt that people were
laughing at her behind them.
(There seems to have been some formal recognition of these mask-related
communication problems in 2021 when NHS Scotland spent over £5 million
of taxpayers’ money on transparent masks, only for them to be
subsequently deemed to be defective).
Masks often resulted in visiting times degenerating into an especially
frustrating experience, as indicated in the closing statement of
‘Independent Care Homes Scotland’ (a group comprising 12 independent
care home operators). Regarding window/garden visits, they recalled:
…residents not being able to hear relatives properly during these types
of visit due to physical barriers (window/masks) and/or distancing
regulations… many residents did not understand why masks, for instance,
were having to be worn or who suffered from poor hearing and/or who
relied on lip reading to communicate. This often led to distress for
residents …
Indoor visits at Homes were later permitted but again these were
burdened with social distance and PPE wearing regulation which greatly
affected residents, relatives and staff and which gave rise to awkward,
unnatural and at times distressing encounters for all concerned.
Another service provider, ‘Central Scotland Care Homes’, also
highlighted the insidious effect of masks on social interactions between
residents and their loved ones:
Garden visits were described as being “horrendous” with no privacy. They
were impractical in the Scottish climate and visitors had to shout to be
heard while wearing masks and sitting two meters apart.
It was not only elderly residents with dementia who suffered from the
mask mania operating within our health and social care sector. Younger
people struggling with profound/multiple learning difficulties (PMLD)
were also victims of this ideologically driven obsession:
The use of face masks caused concern because many people with PMLD could
not tolerate face masks. Facial expression is a key method for
communication. A mask makes it very difficult for a person with PLMD to
see a supporter’s or carer’s facial expressions. Furthermore, masks
could significantly compromise health where the user has respiratory issues.
And the harms of long-term mask wearing were not confined to those
receiving care: the professional caregivers also experienced negative
consequences. Suzanne Napier, a social care worker with Turning Point
and a union representative, told the Inquiry about the physical symptoms
she and her daughter endured as a direct result of prolonged mask wearing:
I never in my life had sinusitis before and I had it really… really
badly and still at times suffer for it… I feel that had a real
detrimental effect to myself and others… Even people within my family
are suffering from it, regular sinusitis now… My daughter is a nurse…
her face would be red raw… literally from wearing a mask.
These honest testimonies from people directly involved in looking after
highly vulnerable service users vividly convey the profound harms of
mask requirements in health and social care. Similarly damning are the
experiences of clinical experts – captured in Smile Free’s upcoming
short film, Masking Humanity – that vividly convey the enormous harms of
masks in these settings. Those in positions of power and influence –
such as Lady Hallett – should take heed of these personal accounts from
those at the sharp end and do their bit to ensure that the blanket
imposition of de-humanising face coverings never happens again.
Dr. Gary Sidley is a retired NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist and
co-founder of the Smile Free campaign opposed to mask mandates.
Subscribe to his Substack page.
[A special thank you to Dave, the independent researcher at
BiologyPhenom, for his tireless efforts to publicise the Scottish
COVID-19 Inquiry. This article relies heavily upon his sterling work.]