NHS nurses battling coronavirus say they have been forced to treat patients without masks due to shortage
NHS nurses battling coronavirus say they have been forced to treat patients without masks due to shortage
NewsColony
NHS nurses battling on the coronavirus frontline say they have been forced to buy their own aprons and treat patients without wearing masks.
Changed government guidelines for treating infected patients now mean staff working with suspected cases are not allowed to wear full protective gear as nurses speak of an alleged supply shortage of vital protective equipment.
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As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps through Italy, more than eight per cent of the country’s COVID-19 cases are infected doctors or nurses.
Some fear that the UK could follow suit unless staff are better protected.
NHS Supply Chain, which provides hospitals with healthcare products, has assured NHS workers that it has an adequate supply.
However, one nurse, spoke to Mail Online on condition of anonymity, revealing she had been forced to head to Leyland’s and other tool shops to find plastic aprons after the hospital she works at ran out.
The nurse claimed the hospital ran out of surgical masks, forcing it to rely on paper masks.
“We have minimum four patients in a bay,” she told said, “and we are just trying to look after them the best we can, but they keep coughing and coughing on us”.
“We need to protect ourselves and our families. Some of my colleagues are even refusing to go in now it’s got so bad.”
Another nurse said that a fellow nurse on her ward had to care for three suspected COVID-19 patients without a face mask.
She explained: “We are also short of all types of masks and protective clothing and equipment for the nurses and doctors.”
‘OVERWHELMED’
WHO guidelines recommend staff wear a full gown and visor to protect themselves.
But many nurses and doctors have been told to wear short gloves, face masks and aprons when treating suspected coronavairus patients.
Northwick Park Hospital in North West London has already become overwhelmed by the coronvavirus that staff resorted to wearing bin bags to protect themselves.
The hospital said they had no critical care beds left after a surge of coronavirus patients were admitted.
Yesterday, Dr Lisa Anderson of St George’s Hospital, London, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There’s a lack of protection for us, but it extends to a lack of planning of how to segregate patients from clean and dirty, how to protect us and keep us away from the public and doctors have no faith in what’s going on.”
However, the UK’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, has reassured the public that hospitals have adequate supplies.
And NHS Supply Chain said on Friday it had eased restrictions on supplies of personal protective equipment.
It has also started delivering masks from the national pandemic stockpile to hospitals across the country.
HEALTH SERVICES SWAMPED
Boris Johnson has already warned the NHS faces being totally overwhelmed by coronavirus just like the swamped health service has been in Italy.
He fears the system could start to fall apart within just two weeks unless Brits heed lockdown advice aimed at stopping the spread of the killer pandemic.
Doctors have already warned a “tsunami” of severely ill patients is about to swamp them as the numbers of people struck down in the UK tops 5,000.
On Sunday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed 4,500 retired healthcare workers have returned to work to help battle the coronavirus crisis.
The UK has so far reported more than 5,700 cases of coronavirus, although the actual number is thought to be much higher.
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Source : The Sun | NewsColony: World News
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