NHS nurses on Britain’s coronavirus frontline tell how colleagues are now REFUSING to go into work after ‘being forced to buy their own aprons’ and treat ‘coughing’ patients without face masks due to supply shortages
- Nurses at two major London hospitals have said they don’t have enough stock
- Warning comes as the UK is reportedly at the beginning of coronavirus outbreak
- Nurses have also worn bin bags on their heads to protect themselves
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Nurses on the frontline of Britain’s war against coronavirus have revealed they have been forced to buy their own aprons and treat patients without wearing face masks, due to an alleged supply shortage.
Government guidelines for treating infected patients have also been switched, meaning staff working with suspected cases are not allowed to wear full protective gear.
The alert comes amid warnings that the UK could end up like Italy, where more than eight per cent of their COVID-19 cases are in doctors or nurses, unless staff are better protected.
NHS Supply Chain, which provides hospitals with healthcare products, has assured them that it has an adequate supply.
Nurses at two major London hospitals have revealed the conditions they face. It is feared that without adequate protection the UK healthcare force could end up infected. Pictured above is a nurse treating a coronavirus patient at a Paris hospital
The stark warning was issued by nurses working at two major London hospitals.
One nurse, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed she had been forced to head to Leyland’s and other tool shops to find plastic aprons after the hospital ran out.
She also said the hospital has run out of surgical masks, forcing it to rely on paper masks.
‘We have minimum four patients in a bay,’ she 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, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a nurse on her ward had to care for three suspected COVID-19 patients without a face mask.
‘We are also short of all types of masks and protective clothing and equipment for the nurses and doctors,’ they said.
It comes after nurses were pictured wearing clinical waste bags on their heads for protection at another London hospital.
A nurse treats a coronavirus patient at a Paris hospital. There are fears that without adequate protection the UK’s healthcare workforce could become infected
Nurses and doctors have been told to wear short gloves, face masks and aprons when treating suspected coronavairus patients, which is short of WHO guidelines.
They recommend staff wear a full gown and visor to protect themselves.
‘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,’ Dr Lisa Anderson of St George’s Hospital, London, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday.
The UK’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, has reassured the public that hospitals have adequate supplies.
NHS Supply Chain said on Friday it had eased restrictions on supplies of personal protective equipment following a wave of criticism.
It has also started delivering masks from the national pandemic stockpile to hospitals across the country.
Dr Jenny Harries, the UK’s deputy chief medical officer, has said that Britain has adequate supplies. She is pictured at a press conference on March 20
Hospitals are reportedly overstretched and already struggling to handle the outbreak, which is said to be no where near its peak.
Northwick Park hospital, north London, declared an emergency situation this week when all of its critical care beds were filled.
The situation was stood down 24 hours later, after patients were transferred to other hospital.
The UK has so far reported more than 5,000 cases of coronavirus, although the actual number is thought to be much higher, and 233 deaths due to the virus.