Face veils in hospital under review 19 September 2013 Last updated at 14:35 By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News There is to be a review into whether NHS staff in England should be allowed to wear full face veils, according to the Department of Health. Ministers have asked the doctors' regulator, the General Medical Council, to assess the issue to ensure there is "appropriate" face-to-face contact with patients. It follows an investigation by the Daily Telegraph which showed 17 hospitals had banned the veil. There is no national guidance. Some hospitals say the veil can be worn for religious reasons. The newspaper report showed others in West Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and east London ruled the clothing was not permitted in order to ensure effective communication. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt: "I'd want to be able to see the face of the doctor or the nurse treating me" Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC: "I think it is very important that patients do get proper contact with the doctors and nurses who are looking after them. Certainly if I was a patient myself, I'd want to be able to see the face of the doctor or nurse who was treating me. However, he said hospitals should be able to come up with policies "in a way that is right in their area" and that national guidelines were a "matter for the professional standards bodies" rather than politicians. Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust introduced rules banning the full face veil in 2009. It said the move was to give clear rules to staff and that wearing the full veil was not an issue in the trust, either before or after the ban. The organisation's chief nurse, Juliette Greenwood, said: "Patients consistently tell us how important good, two-way communication is for them and this is particularly vital for those people with additional needs who rely on visual cues to assist understanding. We believe that seeing someone's face when communicating information to patients is therefore an effective and important part of healthcare. Low numbers There is no clear data on the number of women wearing the full veil in hospitals or for how many would wear the niqab if their hospital had not banned it. "I think that's because the numbers are extremely low," said Mussurut Zia from the Muslim Women's Network. She told the BBC: "Nobody's had to think about this until it's reared its head in recent days. I think the time is right. We need to have the debate and I do think we need, maybe not something in law, but we do need some guidelines. Health minister Dr Dan Poulter told the Telegraph: "Being unable to see a health care professional's face can be a barrier to good and empathetic communication with patients and their families. That is why I am writing to all health care regulators to ask them to look into this matter and to review their professional regulations, to ensure that there is always appropriate face-to-face contact between health care professionals and their patients. The shadow health minister, Andrew Gwynne, said the issue was "very sensitive" and that he hoped patients' wishes would be "taken on board by individual hospital trusts." The Welsh government has announced that it has no plans to review the wearing of full face veils by NHS staff. This week, Home Office minister Jeremy Browne called for a national debate about wearing veils in public places such as schools. Meanwhile, a judge ruled that a Muslim woman, who had refused to remove her niqab, was told she could stand trial wearing a full-face veil, but must remove it to give evidence. Judge Peter Murphy said: "The ability of the jury to see the defendant for the purposes of evaluating her evidence is crucial."