10,000 dead & still there’s not enough safety kit...
» Fury at Hancock’s claim of record gear » Expert: UK deaths will be Europe’s worst
NHS staff fearing for their lives on the coronavirus front line are still without adequate protective kit.
It has got so bad, nurses have been told they can refuse to treat patients if they do not have proper gowns, gloves or masks.
But the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, sparked fury by continuing to defend the Government’s response over PPE, despite staff branding it woeful.
As the UK death rate rose by 737 to 10,612 – including 19 NHS workers – a leading expert warned Britain could become the worst hit country in Europe.
Wellcome Trust director Sir Jeremy Farrar, who advises the Government, said: “I do hope we are coming close to the number of new infections reducing and, in a week or two, the number of people needing hospital reducing, and the number of deaths starting to come down. But numbers in the UK have continued to go up. And yes, the UK is likely to be certainly one of the worst, if not the worst affected, country in Europe.”
Mr Hancock came under fire for insisting there are “record” amounts of PPE, despite workers angrily denying the claim. But he was unable to say when all NHS staff would have the equipment they need.
Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Our brave health and care staff need access to adequate and ongoing supplies of PPE urgently. We keep getting promises at Downing Street conferences while staff on the ground tell us something different. “We need this fixing ASAP. Our NHS need the protection they deserve.” The Royal College of Nursing said members should only refuse to treat patients as a “last resort”. A spokesman added: said: “For nursing staff, this will go against every instinct. But their safety must not be compromised.” The Government, being run by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in the absence of sick Boris Johnson, again refused to apologise to the families of NHS staff who have died. Relatives of one claimed she did not have the right gear. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “I’m incredibly sorry that people feel they are not able to get this equipment. It is our job to make sure we get that health care equipment out to them. “We are putting that in place, with millions of pieces of PPE kit going out to the front line.”
Mr Hancock added: “I’m glad to say that effort is moving in the right direction, we now have record amounts of PPE that’s been put out into the system but until everyone gets the PPE they need then we won’t rest.”
But a new survey revealed some hospital trusts are still not adequately
supplied with the equipment. One surgeon, who caught Covid-19 from a patient who also infected six of their colleagues, said the lack of masks was “scandalous”. The medic added: “I wore
a mask on the ward the day before I went sick and believe I saved two elderly patients from becoming infected through me. We still have lots of mixing in our hospital of staff with no masks at all. Cleaning of door handles and surfaces has also been non-existent.”
One in London claimed masks they were supplied with did not fit properly and they were not given alternatives.
The surgeon said: “This is criminal, to send us in battle without knowing if the equipment works.” Another surgeon from Yorkshire added: “We have been sent to war but with no protective armour.” The Royal College of Surgeons survey found members are facing a postcode lottery for kit. Supply levels seem to vary across the country, with more than half in the Thames Valley reporting they now have access to adequate PPE.
Yet in the North West, little more than a third feel they have the right gear.
RCS Vice President Sue Hill said: “Advice about what protection to use is rendered meaningless if the kit doesn’t reach the front line. In the meantime we have urged our members not to risk their health, and that of their patients carrying out risky procedures.
“PPE supply should not be a postcode lottery. The most acutely affected areas need more kit, fast.”
More than half of those responding to the survey also fear they would not get a Covid-19 test if they wanted one.
Keir Starmer has said the Government should apologise for the lack of PPE. The Labour leader said: “We have seen this weekend an issue about protective equipment, with the Government saying one thing and the frontline saying another.”
WITH our NHS heroes dying in hospitals, it is unforgivable that the Government cannot guarantee when frontline staff will get enough protective equipment.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock either will not or cannot tell us when this scandal will be rectified.
So should dedicated workers refuse to treat patients unless they’re given adequate equipment – as the Royal College of Nursing is informing members to do as a last resort – then the blame rests with Mr Hancock and his boss Boris Johnson.
Reciting statistics on the number of items supposedly distributed is meaningless when people at the sharp end know the terrible truth – that they are still too often asked to care for infectious patients without basic protection.
Had the government properly funded the NHS instead of squeezing the life out of it for a decade we’d be in a much better position.
In this battle, our key worker heroes are found in the NHS, care homes, shops, food factories, lorries, buses, trains, power stations, water plants, town halls, civil service offices, police and fire stations.
Hancock and his Tory colleagues are letting all of them – and the rest of us – down.