MINISTERS’ COVID RISK BLUNDERS
Scottish Government wrongly brushed off airborne fears and nurses got ‘staggeringly inadequate’ PPE
The Scottish Government “dismissed” concerns by nurses about the airborne transmission of Covid during the pandemic, it was claimed yesterday.
Colin Poolman, director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Scotland, also told the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry that the inadequacy of personal protective equipment (PPE) was initially “staggering”.
Poolman said attempts were made by the RCN from 2020 to raise concerns about airborne transmission with the Scottish Government.
The RCN had called for safer FF3 masks to be used to protect against airborne risks and presented a report to the government in February 2021 which was “critical” of the guidance at the time.
Poolman said he felt “vindicated” when the World Health Organisation deemed the virus to be airborne but he said the government “did not respond” to the RCN’s views, which were “dismissed in favour of droplet transmission”.
He told the inquiry: “That remains an area of dispute between ourselves and the Scottish Government.”
Poolman also said the RCN is currently dealing with 35 personal injury claims related to long Covid as well as being contacted for support from nurses who face losing their jobs due to the illness.
He went on: “The inadequacy of PPE was staggering. Members of staff used to reuse PPE that wasn’t designed to be reused.”
The inquiry heard there were 6000 nursing vacancies in Scotland before the pandemic and many staff were drafted into new areas and given masks which failed a “fit test”.
RCN Scotland associate director Norman Provan told the inquiry he received a letter from the chief executive of an NHS board claiming it was “impossible” for nurses to get infected with Covid at work.
He also said PPE quality varied, with some medics handed “essentially repurposed binbags” to use as aprons.
He cited an example of Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Stirlingshire, where medics in the intensive care unit all had “full PPE” including FF3 masks.
Provan said: “There was only one member of staff off sick with Covid.”
The inquiry, taking place before Lord Brailsford in Edinburgh, continues.