Nurses forced into ‘appalling’ decisions
A lack of protective equipment means that district nurses are being forced to make the “appalling” decision over which patients they wear protection to treat, the deputy leader of Scottish Labour has said.
Jackie Baillie MSP said doctors and nurses in her constituency of Dumbarton have told her they do not have enough personal protective equipment (PPE).
She said the least the authorities could do in tackling the coronavirus pandemic is to provide adequate supplies of equipment for frontline workers to protect them against
Covid-19. Ms Baillie told the BBC’S Sunday Politics Scotland programme: “I have people in the constituency that are crying out for protective equipment.
“District nurses are having to make choices about who they wear protective equipment with. I mean that’s just appalling.”
She added: “They are not getting enough. Initially, they weren’t getting any at all. Now it seems they are not getting enough.
“I spoke to local GPS who told me they had two to three days’ supply. District nurses have contacted me saying they have so little PPE that what they are having to do is make choices about which patients they wear them with.
“We don’t know who has got coronavirus because testing is not community-wide so they are taking chances.
“We should applaud the bravery of our frontline servbelfast-born ices, whether it’s the NHS, or social care, or indeed the police. They are all working really hard for us.
“The least we can do is provide them with sufficient protective equipment so that they aren’t at risk themselves.”
Last week, Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said protecting staff working on the front line is an “absolute priority” for the Scottish Government.
Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing on Thursday, she said millions of PPE items had been delivered and she wanted staff “to feel as safe as possible”.