Hospital gown shortage ‘risk to all patients’

THE NHS has been hit by a serious medical apron shortage following the closure of a key factory in China.

Staff say it is affecting patient care as they are frequently having to excuse themselves to hunt out new garments.

The shortage is due to a major pollution crackdown by the Chinese government, which has closed thousands of factories in recent months to reduce pollution levels.

These include a site used by HPC, NHS’s main supplier of the disposable plastic aprons. NHS hospitals buy in around 1.75 million every week and staff must use a new one for each patient as they help prevent the spread of infections.

As a replacement, workers have been given ‘substandard’ aprons which don’t tie at the back and are prone to tearing.

One employee told the Health Service Journal that patients and staff were being ‘put at risk’ from the poor quality gowns.

Another said: ‘This issue has been going on for the last four to five months, and the implications have been widespread and serious.’ Hospitals are now being issued with a temporary supply of better quality aprons from the Department of Health and Social Care’s emergency stocks.

Nigel Watson, of Polyco Healthline, responsible for the HPC brand, said: ‘These issues have arisen as a result of a change in specification to the previous aprons as well as transitional supply chain issues arising from new factories in China.’