Row between medical bodies and health secretary over PPE
Confirmation that 19 National Health Service (NHS) staff have died in the coronavirus outbreak has once again raised concerns about a chronic shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) in the system.
In an interview with Sky News, the embattled health secretary, Matt Hancock claimed he was not aware of a “link” between the deaths and shortage of PPE.
Hancock, who has recently recovered from a mild bout of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, said a “full investigation” will be carried out to understand how the deceased health workers contracted COVID-19 whilst working on the frontline against the coronavirus.
However, Hancock’s denial of a link between shortage of PPE and the medics’ deaths has been disputed by the British Medical Association (BMA), the trade union and professional body for doctors and medical students in the UK.
"Doctors are telling us that they are pressurised to see patients without the protection they need."@CNagpaul says around "50% of doctors in a snapshot survey" by the British Medical Association felt pressured to see patients without the correct PPE.https://t.co/5KqiodJefH pic.twitter.com/acNQCSOHHR
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) April 11, 2020
In a statement the BMA said NHS staff lack the “protective equipment” they need to properly treat coronavirus patients.
The BMA has specifically raised concerns about shortage of PPE in London and Yorkshire where supplies are reportedly at “dangerously low levels”.
According to Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA council chair, doctors are being “forced into a corner” over “heart-breaking decisions” on whether to carry on treating COVID-19 patients without proper protection.
'Please do not put healthcare workers in this situation'. @CNagpaul tells @BBCNews our members are still not getting the PPE they need, putting them in the impossible and unacceptable situation where they find themselves risking their lives going to work on the #COVID19 frontline pic.twitter.com/SH5w6AS5dw
— The BMA (@TheBMA) April 11, 2020
“This is an immensely difficult position to be in, but is ultimately down to the government’s chronic failure to supply us with the proper equipment”, Dr Nagpaul added.
More broadly, health care professional bodies have reacted negatively to Hancock’s earlier suggestion that medical staff were over-using PPE, thus potentially contributing to a shortage.
In particular, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has strongly dismissed any suggestion that healthcare staff have been overusing PPE.
Members are telling us they are unable to access adequate and appropriate PPE as per recommended guidance when caring for patients with suspected or confirmed #COVID19. Tell us about your experience in our survey.https://t.co/zwjcjarzf6 pic.twitter.com/Ru7FY24nlC
— The RCN (@theRCN) April 11, 2020
RCN chief executive, Dame Donna Kinnair, told the BBC no amount of PPE was “more precious a resource than a healthcare worker’s life, a nurse’s life, a doctor’s life”.
The row between health workers’ professional bodies and the health secretary over PPE comes on the heels of consistently high coronavirus-related fatality rates in the UK.
According to the latest figures , a further 917 people have died as a result of complications brought about by COVID-19, thus raising the UK’s overall death toll to 9,875.
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