The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today revealed there are medical staff working to save lives and turn the tide in Britain’s war with coronavirus that have no access to basic protective clothing.
Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, has blasted the ‘unacceptable’ levels of masks, gloves and aprons in some hospitals and care homes.
Whistleblowers in the NHS say they have been ‘hiding’ safety equipment for their next shifts and others have gone off sick fearing they will fall ill if they don’t get away from work.
Dame Donna’s warning based on worried emails and phone calls from nurses came as horrifying pictures of unprotected staff on the frontline emerged today despite new Government guidance making it clear that anyone within 3ft of coronavirus victims must wear full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Dame Donna said: ‘I am hearing from nurses who are treating patients in Covid-19 wards without any protection at all. This cannot continue. They are putting themselves, their families and their patients at risk.
‘Every minute we wait is a minute too long. All nursing staff, no matter where they work, must feel safe. We need action, we need equipment, we need it now’.
She added: ‘The Government is finally prioritising Covid-19 testing for NHS staff, including social care, but it is completely unacceptable that weeks into this crisis there are colleagues in all settings – hospitals, community or care homes – who have not been provided with personal protective equipment.
‘As the professional trade union representing potentially the largest group of affected workers, the RCN has said repeatedly that we will not accept anything less than aprons, gloves and masks for all staff, in all settings. But this is a minimum – and that is why we are so disappointed even that level of protection has yet to be provided’.
Today a picture of brave nurse wearing just a basic apron and gloves to protect herself from coronavirus amid a global shortage of protective equipment – when what staff should be wearing is all the kit on the right
NHS medics must wear full protective equipment if they come within three feet of a coronavirus patient, the government warned today, as shortages of the gear saw a brave nurse forced to dress in just an apron and gloves.
But numerous medical staff including doctors and nurses have expressed serious concerns about a lack of PPE in NHS hospitals.
One described how staff are ‘hiding’ equipment out of sheer desperation.
Some workers are saying they are sick as they fear the provisions are inadequate, another said.
Another doctor compared the situation to sending a soldier to war without the necessary equipment while a junior doctor said it feels like it is ‘inevitable’ that they will contract the virus due to a lack of PPE
Public Health England has issued stricter guidance on personal protective equipment (PPE), making it a requirement to wear a face mask, gloves, an apron and eye-protection as a shield against infectious airborne droplets.
A global shortage of the equipment medics and carers need to protect themselves against Covid-19 have led to shortfalls in the UK, with warnings the lives of thousands of NHS staff are being put at risk.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told a Downing Street briefing yesterday that 170 million masks, some 42.8 million gloves, 13.7 million aprons, 182,000 gowns, almost 10 million items of cleaning equipment and 2.3 million pairs of eye protectors were being delivered to frontline staff.
He said: ‘Every single GP practice, dental practice and community pharmacy has had a PPE delivery.
‘All care homes, hospices, and home care providers have, or will shortly, receive a delivery.’
And as the UK’s death toll rose by another 209 to reach 1,288 yesterday, it also emerged:
- Consultant Amged El-Hawrani became the first front-line NHS worker to die from the virus;
- Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries said it was likely to be three to six months before the lockdown was lifted;
- Boris Johnson continued to chair meetings from isolation in Downing Street;
- Rail journeys were down by 85 per cent and bus trips fell by three quarters;
- Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab prepared to unveil a deal with commercial airlines to repatriate tens of thousands of stranded British citizens;
- Rules were relaxed for two years to allow women to self-administer abortion pills at home rather than visiting a clinic;
- Michael Gove took a swipe at China, saying its failure to be open about the virus had hindered the world’s response;
- The number volunteering to help the NHS rose beyond the target 750,000.
Medics today spoke of their concerns at not being adequately protected, as companies including the chemicals giant Ineos and beer producer Brewdog unveiled plans to mass manufacture hand gels for the NHS.
One obstetrician working in a hospital in London said protective gear is being kept under lock and key by senior staff.
Another doctor compared the situation to sending a soldier to war without the necessary equipment while a junior doctor said it feels like it is ‘inevitable’ that they will contract the virus due to a lack of PPE.
‘There is some, but now we’re in a situation where people are having to hide them and store them for their own staff,’ the obstetrician, who chose to speak anonymously, said. ‘Our bosses are having to store a certain number.
‘We are working in a hospital where there are key workers – including orderlies, porters, healthcare assistant – they have a right to be protected too.
‘Our orderly was walking around the ward yesterday with a sleep mask over her face – an eye mask over her nose and mouth as a make-shift mask. They’ve said she doesn’t need a mask because she’s not in contact with Covid patients but so many patients are asymptomatic. We should be managing patients as though everybody has it.’
She added: ‘There is not enough kit. PPE is locked away in our hospital and only one person has got the key because people are panicking. So, some people are going in and grabbing some of the stuff because they want to walk around with a mask.
‘What people are doing is they are hiding them because they don’t want just anyone grabbing the kit, so the bottom line is there is not enough kit.
‘[It is] out of sheer desperation, there is just not enough.’
Public Health England today issued stricter guidance on personal protective equipment (PPE) when within three feet of a coronavirus patient
It is an outrage that there have been horrendous shortages, mistakes and confusion around PPE, for it risks destabilising the NHS effort to tackle the virus. A clinician is pictured wearing a mask and gloves at a coronavirus testing station
Another frontline NHS doctor, who also worked for the Government in west Africa during the Ebola crisis, said some fellow workers are saying they are sick as they fear the PPE provisions are inadequate.
‘All my colleagues are quite nervous – some people are going off sick because they don’t feel safe,’ the doctor, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
‘Others are seeking placement elsewhere so they are not frontline, again because of the lack of PPE.
‘The closed WhatsApp groups are awash with fear, anger and confusion around the issues regarding PPE.’
A junior doctor at the Royal Bolton Hospital in Greater Manchester said PPE was the main concern for health workers.
He said: ‘I just think at the moment the main thing from a healthcare worker is our concerns about PPE.
‘You wouldn’t send a soldier out without the necessary equipment so why are healthcare professionals not being provided the adequate PPE?’
Another junior doctor in Norfolk also told the news agency: ‘There’s not enough, there’s nowhere near enough.
‘There is such a shortage, so we feel like it’s inevitable we’re going to get sick. Infection control tells you one thing, the government are advising another thing, there’s so much conflicting advice.’
The World Health Organisation has warned that the ‘chronic’ shortage of PPE is threatening ‘our collective ability to save lives’.
On Friday, WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: ‘When health workers are at risk, we’re all at risk.’
The Department of Health and Social Care said it has issued millions of pieces of equipment and set up a national helpline so those in need can ask for more.
It came as the actor James McAvoy has called on the public to help save lives by donating money to buy protective gear for NHS workers – as he pledged £250,000 to the cause himself.
He helped the Masks for NHS Heroes campaign smash through its £200,000 target just three days after going live.
Last night it stood at more than £700,000 after around 10,000 people pledged their support.
The donations will buy masks, visors, gowns and gloves from global supply chains to be rushed to the UK by air freight.
