Ministers were accused on Monday of overstating the number of completed coronavirus tests and failing to provide Britain’s frontline medical staff with enough protective equipment as the number of deaths from the disease continued to rise.
The UK government said it was making progress in the fight against the pandemic, with Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser, saying new hospital admissions for the virus would stabilise in “two to three weeks” and that there were signs that social distancing measures were working.
But in hospitals there was growing concern at the disconnect between ministerial rhetoric and the amount of testing and protection available for NHS staff as the emergency begins to reach its peak.
On Sunday Michael Gove said 10,000 tests for the virus were being administered, part of the government’s drive to deliver 25,000 tests by mid to late April; Boris Johnson has said the eventual daily target is 250,000.
However, Public Health England said on Monday that 8,278 tests were carried out on 4,908 people as of 9am on Sunday. This was down from 9,114 tests at 9am on Saturday. More testing is seen as vital in checking whether health and social workers are free from the virus and can return to work.
“When Germany is testing around 500,000 people a week, many are asking why we are still not even hitting the 10,000 a day promised on March 11,” said Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary.
Helen Whately, health minister, told the BBC: “We have achieved the capacity to have 10,000 tests a day.”
One senior public health doctor told the Financial Times: “Why is there such a mismatch between what we have been promised in terms of tests and what seems to be actually happening?”
Yvonne Doyle of PHE told the Downing Street press conference that the NHS was “well on the way” to meeting the target of 25,000 tests a day by mid to late April.
Sir Patrick said the government’s social distancing plan was working — reflected by a sharp fall in the use of public transport — and that the number of new hospital admissions was rising steadily, rather than accelerating.
“It may suggest we’re already beginning to see some effects,” Sir Patrick said. But he added things would get worse before they got better: “We would expect to see a continuation of this at least over two or three weeks, then a stabilisation and a decrease thereafter,” he said.
There are now 9,000 patients with coronavirus in hospital in England, with numbers rising by about 1,000 a day.
Meanwhile hospital and ambulance staff continue to complain about a lack of protective equipment, in spite of assurances from Mr Johnson that a massive procurement exercise is under way.
In a now-deleted tweet, Alan Hoskins, director of procurement and commercial services at NHS South of England, on Sunday said he was “losing the will to live” after being unable to get hold of any gowns from the NHS supply chain.
Mr Hoskins wrote: “What a day, no gowns.” He added: “God help us all.” He could not be reached for comment.
The GMB union said the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing for frontline workers was “a national crisis”. It said ambulance workers reported being given no access to PPE, even when being sent to treat patients suspected of having Covid-19.
Meanwhile luxury womenswear company David Nieper said it was one of a number of fashion concerns that had contacted the government offering to make protective clothing for NHS staff but had received no orders yet.
Christopher Nieper, managing director, said they could easily switch their five factories and 300 staff from making dresses and jackets to gowns and scrubs for frontline medical workers, potentially turning out up to 10,000 sets of scrubs a week.
The fashion company was first in touch with the government two weeks ago and spoke to the Department of Health again on Monday but is still waiting for the green light. “We’re ready and waiting and we’re still waiting,” said Mr Nieper.
