Denim and short skirt rules are for schools not hospitals

NHS staff have been subjected to a dress code that a leading doctor says belongs more to a classroom than a hospital.

Doctors and other NHS workers at Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust in London have been banned from wearing denim, above-the-knee skirts or shorts or clothing that exposes the midriff or cleavage. Tights have to be natural skin colour or black. Flouting the rules puts staff at risk of disciplinary action.

Trust bosses brought in some of the new clothing and hygiene rules in a bid to combat MRSA. Fingernails have to be kept clean and short and long hair must be tied back. But it is the measures meant to guarantee a 'professional appearance' - including a one-and-a-half inch limit on heels - that doctors have branded as 'heavy-handed' and 'politically correct lunacy'.