Nurses, doctors and other staff will now be allowed to wear stud earrings, false eye lashes and tattoos at Royal Bolton Hospital.

This comes after Bolton NHS Foundation Trust announced that it was updating its uniform policy.

Thanks to this change, trust staff will have much more freedom to decide what they want to wear to work while the practicalities of stopping infections are still adhered to.

Chief nurse Tyrone Roberts said: “We felt like it was time to bring our uniform policy up to date and consider what it is that we are asking of our colleagues.

“The two things that we are focusing on is communication, that is that it is consistent and frequent and also how we keep our patients safe.

 

“And in response to uniform the focus is on our handwashing and if we get our handwashing right that massively reduces the risk of spreading infections.”

The new changes will mean that staff are now allowed to wear plain stud earrings, as well as natural length eyelashes.

They can also come into work with coloured hair and “inoffensive” tattoos and wear trainers as long as they are plain black and clean, fluid repellent and rubber soled.

The Bolton News: Uniform policy is changing at Royal Bolton HospitalUniform policy is changing at Royal Bolton Hospital (Image: Bolton NHS Foundation Trust)

Mr Roberts says that whatever changes are made to uniform policy, the most important thing remains how the staff treat people in their care.

He said: “It’s the things that we say and the things that we do that matter most to our patients.

“So, if we get that right we can also celebrate who we are in process.”

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Bolton NHS Foundation Trust says that taken together the chances mean that they have brought their uniform policy “into the 21st century.

A statement said: “We have a new uniform policy which reflects our move to embrace difference whilst focusing on the things that matter most.

“Generational changes around wearing of false eyelashes and also several stud piercings have become common place, we wanted to acknowledge and accept this. 

“We have checked extensive evidence bases and there is no research that shows increased IPC risk with wearing more than one plain stud earing in an ear.”