Health staff launch legal challenge over PPE failures
A LEGAL challenge demanding an immediate inquiry into the Government failure to provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline staff has been issued by health professionals.
They say that action must be taken quickly so that “lessons can be learnt” from the Covid-19 crisis to help shape future responses, should the UK be hit by further waves of the virus. A pre-action letter sent by the Doctor’s Association UK (DA) and the Good Law Project (GLP), who are bringing the challenge, details a list of “recurrent and systemic” failures in PPE procurement and supply.
The list includes the lack of gowns, visors or body bags in the Government’s PPE stockpile in February, as well as complaints about the widely reported shipment of 400,000 gowns sourced from Turkey, many of which were deemed unfit for use. “It is a tragedy that nearly 200 healthcare workers in the UK have died due to Covid-19,” said a spokesperson for the DA.
“There has been recurrent and systemic failure of the PPE supply chain, leaving staff in some instances with makeshift or no PPE.
“Every healthcare worker death from Covid-19 must be investigated, the issue of PPE has to be considered as part of that. Until
we establish all the factors involved we feel that inquests must be opened.
“With the Good Law Project, we are seeking a legal remedy by compelling the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to discharge his statutory duty to promptly and properly order an investigation of healthcare worker deaths.”
The Department of Health has a legal obligation to order an independent investigation into issues surrounding the procurement and distribution of PPE. The DA and GLP say that the case has been brought due to the DHSC’s failure to begin such an investigation to date.
Last week, it emerged that firms including Amazon, the Royal Mint and Jaguar Land Rover have stepped in to help the Government provide PPE to frontline health workers.
And it was reported yesterday that a type of protective goggles for use by NHS and care workers has been recalled by the Government because they fail to meet current safety standards for coronavirus.
The “Tiger Eye” protectors have been pulled after tests showed that the product did not meet current requirements for “splash protection”, according to a letter from the Department of Health, The goggles were bought in 2009 as part of an earlier programme.