It’s important to us that our hospitals are always safe, welcoming places for patients, visitors and staff.
As part of this, we are putting in place new measures as part of our work towards the Protection of Premises Act 2025 – also known as Martyn’s Law.
This new legislation was brought in in the wake of the tragic Manchester Arena attack, to improve protective security and organisational preparedness in and around public buildings and spaces.
The first of our sites to have these measures introduced will be Hull Royal Infirmary, where we will be locking the main atrium doors between midnight and 6am each day from Monday, 9 March.
Group Director of Estates, Facilities and Development, Tom Myers, said: “While the atrium has high levels of footfall during the day, that’s not the case in the early hours of the morning, so this is about enhancing the safety of everyone on our sites by ensuring only those with a legitimate need to be there can gain access.
“In addition to this, it will assist us in our continued work to prevent anti-social behaviour on the site. I’m sad to say that, increasingly, our Security teams are being pulled away to deal with people coming into the building who have no need to be there – especially during the early hours of the morning.
“This can be intimidating for both staff and patients – and while we appreciate that having the doors locked may be inconvenient for some – their safety of our staff and those in our care will always be our priority”
Anyone already inside the building will be able to use the atrium doors as normal. However, only staff will have access to the atrium from outside the building during these hours.
Any patients or visitors who legitimately need to come into the main hospital building will be able to use a buzzer to contact our Security team – although they may need to wait if they are dealing with an ongoing incident. Alternatively, they can also access the building via Emergency Care Assessment entrance.