Give NHS staff what they need

■ AFTER 10 years of chronic underfunding of our NHS and severe staff shortages, in part caused by health and care workers from the EU returning home because of Brexit, the Government is trying to suppress the spread of the virus in an attempt to prevent a complete collapse of the service.

It is my belief that we will only beat this with a coherent approach and community spirit.

But I’m afraid all I am seeing is an incompetent Government stumbling from chaos to disaster. Meanwhile our front-line NHS staff are struggling to cope without the proper equipment or even protective clothing.

Terry Marriott Waterlooville, Hants

■ It’s hardly surprising that some NHS staff are feeling like cannon fodder (Mirror, March 19). The real number of those thought to be infected with coronavirus in the UK is around 55,000, so with this in mind it is not only a moral, but a safeguarding obligation, that Health Secretary Matt Hancock must ensure the appropriate safety equipment is available.

The need for ventilators has already been highlighted but clearly much more consideration needs to be given to the provision of basic things like face masks, gowns and goggles. Amanda Brown, Pulham St Mary, Norfolk

■ It beggars belief that the staff at some NHS hospitals haven’t been equipped with the proper safety kit to protect them against coronavirus. This comes at a time when doctors and nurses are already under severe pressure caring for infected patients. It is imperative that the Health Secretary gives this situation top priority to ensure those serving on the frontline are adequately supported and aren’t put at risk unnecessarily.

Jenny Pain, Chatham, Kent

■ For the last decade, successive Tory governments have underfunded our health and social care services. They have completely decimated the state just when the country needs it most and their ideology has put us all at risk. I blame the gullible electorate who consistently seem to think a bunch of arrogant millionaires are the best people to run the country. Christopher White, Bristol

■ The Prime Minister has reportedly ordered the NHS to buy up 8,000 private hospital beds. For years the NHS has propped up the private health sector by putting right botched cosmetic operations and the like. If 8,000 hospital beds are needed from the private sector they should be commandeered and the money spent where it’s needed most.

Jim Kennedy, Airdrie

North Lanarks

■ Covid-19 is really starting to bring home the reality of the damage the Tories have done to the NHS in the last decade. We are just at the start of this crisis, so how on earth is it going cope with the huge numbers of patients still to come?

Mick Smith, Tilbury, Essex

■ I have said for the last 10 years that the Tories have run the NHS into the ground. If they hadn’t we would have more capacity in intensive care units and the current pressure would not be so much of a problem.

Tony Howard, Salford

Gtr Manchester