Nurses in ‘near revolt’ as some use bin liners to protect themselves
NURSES are resorting to wearing bin liners as protection against coronavirus, it has emerged as the Army is drafted in to deliver essential kit to hospitals for the first time.
Medics are in “near revolt” over their lack of access to personal protective equipment, hospital bosses have said as front-line staff warned they were being put at risk when treating those with Covid-19.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said that the Government is aware of the issues and is moving “heaven and earth” to get the equipment to the front line.
However, his claims were contradicted by Milton Keynes-based PPS, one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of protective equipment, which has revealed it is getting orders from all over the world but was told it was “all in hand” when it offered to help at home.
Yesterday, the Army were seen delivering masks to St Thomas’s Hospital in London as they began efforts assisting with distribution and delivery of protective equipment.
About 250 personnel were deployed to “assist civil authorities with the response” with a further 20,000 ready to take part, the Ministry of Defence said. Members of the Armed Forces have also started training to be able to drive oxygen tankers.
But Dr Rinesh Parmar, chair of the Doctors’ Association, warned that the situation with protective equipment had not been resolved, and medics “feel like they are expendable”. He said: “Nurses have resorted to using bin liners and doctors have been forced to go out to B&Q and Screwfix to source their own masks.” Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, has raised her concerns with Boris Johnson. “We have heard numerous reports of nurses going out without proper protection. When they are going into homes with Covid-19, some are using bin bags instead of an apron,” she warned.
“I wrote to the Prime Minister because although they [ministers] are apparently getting reassurance from delivery companies, that’s not what we’ve been hearing on the front line.” NHS staff and their loved ones posted online to show the shoddy equipment that they were expected to wear. It comes after a coroner in Lancashire wrote to funeral directors saying that they should use “a towel, bin liner or something like an incontinence pad” to create a makeshift mask when moving the bodies of those who have died. Scientists said last night that people most at risk are those who have caught the virus from others with a high “viral load” rather than being frequently exposed to people with mild forms of the disease. Willem van Schaik, professor in microbiology and infection at the University of Birmingham, said: “On the basis of previous work on coronaviruses, we know that exposure to higher doses are associated with a worse outcome and this may be likely in the case of Covid-19.”