Two-thirds of doctors don’t feel protected from virus
LEEDS COUNCIL has received emergency permission to build a temporary mortuary to help cope with expected increase in deaths due to coronavirus.
The facility is expected to be housed in Waterside Industrial Park in Stourton, and is expected to cost the authority £800,000.
A councillor for the area said it should bring the issue of social distancing into sharp focus as the city prepares for more coronavirus-relates deaths.
A document, uploaded on to Leeds Council’s website, said the money would be used to manufacture, supply and install ‘bespoke equipment’ for a temporary mortuary.
The decision was not subject to the council’s normal decisionmaking channels, as it claimed any delay “may severely impact on the city’s ability to deal with the anticipated increase in mortality rates”.
Coun Elizabeth Nash (Lab), represents the Hunslet and Riverside ward where the facility will be set up, and was briefed on the proposals by officers. She said: “It is out of the way, and most people will not know it’s there.” She said she hoped people would now take the virus seriously.
DOCTORS’ LIVES are still being put at risk by a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), with some calling the current provision “useless”, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned.
More than two-thirds of doctors (69 per cent) questioned by the BMA said they do not feel protected from Covid-19 infection, while some feel forced to work in high-risk areas without the right equipment.
The snapshot survey of almost 2,000 medics showed that large numbers of doctors are still expected to care for Covid-19 patients with little or no PPE, the BMA said.
Just 12 per cent of 1,124 hospital doctors questioned said they felt fully protected from the virus at work, while 27 per cent reported their trust was running low on basic supplies such as soap.
It comes after Public Health England (PHE) issued updated guidance on what PPE staff should wear, adding that it had been signed off by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as meeting its requirements.
According to the new poll,
An ambulance worker looks well-protected but many doctors say they want more protective equipment.
more than half (54 per cent) of doctors working in high-risk environments, including those carrying out risky procedures such as intubating patients, said there were either shortages or no supply at all of adequate face masks.
Some 65 per cent said they did not have access to eye protection, while 55 per cent said they felt pressured to work in a high-risk area despite not having adequate PPE.
One hospital doctor said: “The quality of our eye protection and apron is useless. Some of the PPE
provided feels like a tick-box exercise just for psychological reassurance.”
Another doctor said: “I am the only Muslim anaesthetist with a beard in my department. I am being forced to shave my beard due to unavailability of hood masks with respirator, and a bearded doctor can’t pass a fit mask test.”
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the BMA’s council, said: “In less than three days, nearly 2,000 doctors across the UK have told us how desperate their situation really is.”