FLU CRISIS
Face kit runs out for nurses
HOSPITALS battling killer flu are having to ration face masks.
The shortage of basic equipment was revealed as officials said the flu season is “starting to peak”.
But bosses at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital warned staff to limit the number of masks because supplies were very low.
They were told to only give them to ® patients suffering from the worst symptoms to help limit infections. One nurse said: “The last few weeks have been ridiculous.
“Staff can spend ridiculous amounts of time searching for equipment and medication. Patient care is undoubtedly affected by all of this.”
Public Health England reported a 5% fall in the numbers admitted to hospital with flu. Richard Peabody, acting head of respiratory diseases at PHE, said: “Most indicators have remained relatively stable and signs are that flu activity is starting to peak.”
But Prof Simon de Lusignan, of the Royal College of GP’s Research and Surveillance Centre, warned: “We are certainly not out of the woods yet this flu season”. A HOSPITAL worker was banned after wrongly telling a pregnant woman her baby had died.
Radiographer Catherine Birnie also failed to spot a baby with Down’s syndrome had holes in its heart, a tribunal heard.
The Health and Care Professionals Council suspended Birnie, 54, who worked at Princess Elizabeth Hospital, Guernsey, for six months.