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Home Canterbury News Article
A worried eyewitness says people were crowding together outside "like Covid didn't exist" after a fire alarm went off at a hospital.
The man, who has been shielding since March, filmed the incident at the Kent and Canterbury, shortly after 11am yesterday.
Watch: Staff and visitors evacuated during fire alarm at Kent and Canterbury Hospital
The video shows people pouring from a hospital building into the car park outside the out-patients department.
Dozens of people can be seen standing close together in the crowded car park in Canterbury , including some without face masks.
Hospital bosses insist they are adhering to NHS guidance that all staff and visitors wear face coverings. They are also limiting the number of people inside buildings at any one time.
But the eyewitness, named Steve, expressed concerns over the lack of social distancing.
"I get the need to evacuate but measures should be in place to safeguard everyone," he said.
"It was literally like Covid didn't exist.
"I was disgusted by this, especially being a person who has been shielding since March."
A spokesman for East Kent Hospitals Trust, which runs the site, said: “This video was taken at the start of a fire alarm sounding at Kent & Canterbury Hospital, as staff and visitors were making their way out of the hospital and to their designated evacuation point.
“We are adhering to NHS guidance that all staff and visitors wear face coverings inside any of our hospital buildings, and are limiting the number of people in our buildings at any one time.”
It comes after t he trust has been accused of struggling to control the spread of coronavirus within its hospitals in Ashford , Margate , Canterbury , Dover and Folkestone .
After carrying out an inspection at the William Harvey in Ashford , The Care Quality Commission told the Trust it "must improve" care at the hospital .
The CQC's damning report found a large number of issues around infection control and hygiene in the hospital, including staff not using hand sanitiser or changing their PPE .
