The government says hundreds of thousands of gowns are being flown into the UK for NHS staff desperate for protective gear.
NHS medics have used aprons, bin bags and hospital gowns meant for patients to cobble together makeshift protective wear as they grapple with a nationwide PPE shortage.
Reports say the NHS is currently using 150,000 gowns a day – meaning the 400,000 Housing and Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced today will last an estimated three days.
NHS staff being exposed to the virus every day are crying out for PPE as they lose colleagues to the deadly bug.
Mr Jenrick made the announcement about the gowns as he presented today’s daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing.
He said “a very large consignment” of personal protective equipment (PPE) – including 400,000 gowns – is due to arrive in the UK from Turkey on Sunday.
It comes as some businesses say they have volunteered to supply PPE to the government but claim they have not been taken up on their offers.
Mr Jenrick continued: “But demand is also very high. We are working with British manufacturers to ensure that they can make a contribution, and you’ve heard of some of the more prominent ones like Burberry and Barbour.
“But there are many SMEs (small to medium enterprises) as well being involved in that, and my department is also involved in trying to ensure that the supplies that we have get out, not just to the NHS, critical though that is, but also to social care, often to smaller establishments like care homes, all across the country.
(Image: via REUTERS)
“There’s over 50,000 healthcare settings like that in the country, and we’re using local resilience forums, backed by almost 200 military planners to do the logistical task of taking the stocks that we do have, and getting them to the front line, but I completely accept that this is extremely challenging.
“Supply in some areas, particularly gowns and certain types of masks and aprons, is in short supply at the moment, and that must be an extremely anxious time for people working on the front line, but they should be assured that we are doing everything we can to correct this issue, and to get them the equipment that they need.”
Asked about PPE during today’s briefing, National medical director for England Professor Stephen Powis said: “I’m a doctor, I’ve worked for many years on the front line and I can absolutely assure you for me and my clinical colleagues, this is very personal.
“These are my friends, colleagues, extended family.”
He said the Government was working “incredibly hard” to deliver PPE to frontline health staff, including a shipment arriving on Sunday, but stressed there was a “global emergency” and strains on supply chains across the world.
He added: “The Government does stockpile PPE for pandemics, and that has been incredibly important and useful in our response to this.”
