Equipment shortages putting NHS staff at risk

Doctors and nurses have warned that frontline NHS staff are at risk of dying from coronavirus after the protective gear requirements for health workers treating those infected were downgraded.

Those dealing most closely with Covid-19 patients, such as A&E medics, anaesthetists and specialists in acute medicine and intensive care, are most worried. Staff caring for the growing number of those seriously ill with the disease are also concerned that they could pass the infection on to other patients after catching it at work because of poor protection and shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Doctors are also angry about Public Health England’s new advice which reduces the level of the PPE that staff need to wear, with many believing that the change in advice was driven by the lack of equipment rather than a change in the clinical evidence about the risks from the virus.

This follows reports that GP practices in approximately 20 parts of England have been supplied with face masks that expired in 2016 but purported to be useable until next year.

Dr Nick Fletcher, a consultant anaesthetist and intensive care specialist at St George’s hospital in London, said: “There is a high death rate for medical first responders. If they don’t have the protective kit, this increases their risk of death. What we are going to have to use is likely not fit for purpose. There really needs to be a big effort to ensure PPE for medics and nurses is made an absolute priority.”