GPs refuse to work at test centre in PPE row

A group of doctors are refusing to do shifts at a Covid-19 treatment hub after they were told to stop wearing higher-grade PPE.

Seven GPs will no longer work at the Acute Respiratory Illness Centre (ARIC) in Hamilton after NHS Lanarkshire told them they could no longer bring their own face masks.

They had previously been allowed to wear FFP3 masks – respirator coverings which protect by filtering out tiny virus particles from the air – which they bought themselves.

However, the health board has told GPs they have to wear surgical masks like nurses who assess patients for Covid-19 symptoms at the centre.

Dr Lynn Duff, one of the GPs who stopped working there, told medical magazine Pulse: “Some nursing staff were

SAFETY FIRST getting frustrated by the fact GPs were feeling it necessary to wear FFP3 masks.

“Then they reported to their seniors that they felt unsafe in their surgical masks so the board then raised this.

“The decision was that GPs would no longer be entitled to bring their own and they could only use surgical masks.”

Dr Mike Coates, NHS Lanarkshire’s clinical lead for the ARIC, said: “As a clinician seeing dozens of patients face to face each day, I have never felt unsafe or compromised with the level of PPE provided.”

Dr Sharon Russell, of South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “We have plentiful supplies of appropriate PPE and we are asking those who work within the ARIC to use the nationally approved PPE provided.”