NHS staff ‘forced to buy masks from DIY stores’ as PPE crisis described as ’21st century’s Dunkirk’

NHS staff say they have been forced to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) from DIY stores as shortages persist on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus.

Despite Government efforts to get PPE to healthcare workers, NHS staff are buying their own masks, the public are helping out by making visors on 3D printers in garden sheds, and kitchen sewing machines are being used to make protective kit.

A team of costume makers from the English National Opera are even raising money to make scrubs for NHS workers.

An app set up by Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) to assess frontline shortages revealed only 52 per cent of doctors carrying out high risk aerosol generating procedures had the right long-sleeved gown.

The NHSppe App has received input from more than 1,500 medics from 250 hospitals and GP practices across the UK.

Data collated on Tuesday morning from the app showed that 38 per cent of respondents reported no eye protection at all in the form of visors or goggles.

A partner at a GP practice told DAUK: “All my GPs have bought PPE from DIY stores as our stock ran out weeks ago.”

Another said: “Many wards have only one mask and visor and we’re having to share.”

It comes as one researcher said keeping the NHS in personal protective equipment (PPE) has become the “21st century’s Dunkirk”.

Referring to the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk during the Second World War, Professor Trisha Greenhalgh​ from the University of Oxford, who is leading a series of reviews of research surrounding PPE, said: “As Covid-19 deaths in the UK continue to escalate, the main story about PPE in the UK, and in many other countries, has become the lack of it.

“Primary and secondary care are running low on various items of PPE. Other key workers such as porters and cleaners are, allegedly, not always being supplied with it.

“Staff are, they claim, being told to make theirs last longer. Some National Health Service staff claim they’ve been told to buy their own.

“The media is buzzing with stories of visors being 3D printed in garden sheds, masks stitched together on kitchen sewing-machines, and small construction companies donating boxes of masks originally intended for use on building sites.

“Keeping the NHS in PPE has become the 21st century’s Dunkirk.”

NHS leaders have thanked organisations and the public for “stepping into the breach” and offering PPE supplies.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers – which represents NHS Trusts – said: “Trusts continue to help each other effectively and trust leaders are also hugely grateful to other local organisations with PPE supplies who are also stepping into the breach including councils, police forces, dentists, vets and water companies.”

As of Tuesday, the Government had confirmed 19 coronavirus deaths amongst those working for the health service, but announcements from NHS trusts and tributes from loved ones indicate the true number is higher still.

A nurse with five children is among the latest of dozens of NHS workers who have died.

In a sign of the deepening crisis, a leaked document shows some elements of PPE could be reused by NHS staff as a “last resort”.

The Public Health England document states that protective masks and gowns could need to be cleaned and reused when stocks run low and admits there is currently a “reduced ability to re-supply” PPE, the BBC reported.

Some hospitals have already begun cleaning single-use gowns to preserve stocks, according to separate emails seen by the BBC.

“These are last-resort alternatives, but, given the current in-country stock and the reduced ability to re-supply, we are suggesting that these are implemented until confirmation of adequate re-supply is in place”, the documents said.

In a statement, Dr Susan Hopkins, from PHE, said: “PPE is a precious resource and it is crucial that everyone in health and social care has access to the right protective equipment.

“All options are being considered to ensure this, including the safe reuse of items, but no decisions have been made.”

The document said some of the last-resort measures would need to be reviewed and approved by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

An HSE spokesman said: “In line with the Government’s PPE strategy, it is right that, where possible, strategies for optimising the supply of PPE should be explored.

“We are discussing with Public Health England ways in which pressure can be eased on the supply chain. This includes potentially reusing certain equipment where it is safe to do so.”

During Tuesday’s Downing Street press conference, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Public Health England’s Yvonne Doyle also rejected claims that firms had been told to restrict supplies of PPE to other parts of the United Kingdom in favour of England.

Mr Sunak said: “There’s no truth in those stories, that those companies had been told to prioritise PPE equipment.

“Rather, the contrary is actually happening…there has been incredibly close collaboration between our four nations in this regard.”

Prof Doyle said: “Public Health England has not, in any sense, directed any of the devolved administrations to be at any disadvantage.

“We work really closely together.”