Hospitals risk running out of PPE again, ministers told

Procurement chief warns that resumption of routine services could lead to increased need for masks

HOSPITALS could face fresh shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) as they restart outpatient appointments and operations, senior procurement officials have warned, as they called for urgent new guidance to prepare the NHS for increased use of masks by patients, visitors and staff.

Mark Roscrow, chairman of the Health Care Supply Association (HCSA), which represents NHS procurement teams, warned of a “big concern” about the impact on PPE supplies as hospitals begin to “turn services back on” from the current “lull” that has followed last month’s peak of Covid-19 cases.

While some hospitals are offering masks to patients and visitors, there is no “consistency of approach” and Public Health England needed to issue new guidelines to help to predict the amount of PPE that will be needed once hospitals resume routine work with social distancing in place, Mr Roscrow said.

He intervened after NHS England told hospitals to restart routine surgery and procedures.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The safety of our staff is paramount and we will continue to take an evidence-based approach for the use of PPE.

“Public Health England has already laid out guidance for PPE in different settings and we are working around the clock to increase stock and ensure PPE is delivered as quickly as possible to where it is needed on the front line.”

The HCSA’s warning follows calls by hospitals and health unions for the Government to ensure an adequate supply of PPE before such work is resumed. “We’re going to have to get PPE and testing into a place from where they currently are to restart. We’re asking trusts to deal with all of this alongside testing a stream of Covid patients while retaining a surge capacity,” Mr Roscrow said.

The fourth of Boris Johnson’s five tests for significantly easing the lockdown measures is ensuring adequate supplies of PPE to meet future demand.

The test has proved the most difficult to meet following worldwide shortages of items such as protective gowns and some types of masks, and the Government has faced embarrassing episodes such as a much-vaunted shipment from Turkey that turned out to contain gowns falling short of UK standards.

Mr Roscrow said: “We’re in a lull a bit for Covid, so as the numbers are coming down and in a much more stable position, and therefore there are conversations about starting to turn services back at the various levels, there is a big concern about the impact of that on PPE.”

“Trying to reflect that in the model is going to be a challenge, to say the least. What we’re not clear on is the volume of PPE that’s going to go into this.”

The change is likely to create sudden spikes in demand in some areas of the country, as services are resumed, and the need for more significant volumes of some types of PPE, Mr Roscrow added.

Stressing the need for guidance on what PPE should be made available to patients and visitors, he continued:

‘We’re asking trusts to deal with all of this alongside testing a stream of Covid patients’

“People will be anxious about going into hospital and there will be questions about whether they are going to have PPE to go in there ... and is that going to be given to patients? And I know there are some examples of this apparently starting to happen.

“Well ... that’s going to drive the numbers up as well. So I think it’s very difficult to answer the question ‘have we got it covered?’ when we’re still not sure about the impact of what we’re going to switch on and the way that’s going to work.”

Rob Harwood, chairman of the British Medical Association’s consultants committee, agreed that new guidance would be “helpful”, but added: “Given the amount of variability between one organisation and another, and the caseload they’ve got and how much of their capacity they’re having to change back over to regular work, I think that’ll be a tough one to do.”

The current guidance on PPE recommends only that possible or confirmed Covid-19 patients should wear a surgical mask, to minimise the risk that they could infect others. A face mask should not be worn by patients if there is potential for their clinical care to be compromised (for example, when receiving oxygen therapy via a mask),” the guidance states. “A face mask can be worn until damp or uncomfortable.”