Hancock: ‘I can’t promise a free face mask for everyone’

Matt Hancock has said he “can’t promise” that everyone across the UK will be given free protective masks if scientific advice dictates they should be worn.

The health secretary, responding to a question in the Commons from Labour former minister Hilary Benn, said that it was necessary to ensure that supplies of masks were available for those working in the health and social care sectors.

Mr Benn had asked Mr Hancock whether members of the public would be expected to source their own masks if they were required to wear them in certain situations by Government guidance.

“It seems increasingly likely that part of what will be required to tackle this virus in future will be the wearing of masks by members of the public in certain situations,” said Mr Benn.

“If the Government comes to the point based on the scientific advice that that is recommended, is the Government’s policy to provide masks to the public and, if so, what is his [Mr Hancock’s] plan to source them, given the difficulties we have seen with PPE supply, or will members of the public be expected to source their own?” Mr Hancock responded: “We’ll follow the advice, we’ll listen to what the Sage advisory group says on masks and then we will implement that.

“I can’t promise that we will give everybody free masks, I mean that would be an extraordinary undertaking, and we do have to make sure that we have supplies available, especially for health and social care staff, where the scientific advice throughout has been that the wearing of masks is necessary in those circumstances and we’ve got to make sure the provision is there for them.”

Scientific advisers for the Government have been carrying out a review of the use of face masks. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said there is no evidence to support their use by the general population.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals and NHS trusts in England, has urged the Government to “fully assess” the impact any new advice could have on health service supplies.

In a statement on Monday, he said: “Fluid repellent masks for health and care staff are key to safety and to avoid the spread of coronavirus.

“Securing the supply of masks, when there is huge global demand, is crucial. This must be a key consideration for Government.

“There needs to be clear evidence that wearing masks, along with other measures, will deliver significant enough benefits to take us out of lockdown to potentially jeopardise NHS mask supply.”

The NHS is meanwhile getting through tens of millions of masks a week, procurement officials have said as they revealed the “staggering” amount of personal protective equipment (PPE) needed.

In Wales alone, which accounts for around 5 per cent of the NHS, health workers are using almost three million medical masks a week, one expert said. This means the NHS as a whole needs close to 60 million masks a week for frontline workers. Experts have suggested the 400,000 surgical gowns that arrived yesterday on an RAF plane could be used within days.