disgusted that nurses/carers/doctors are dying for lack of PPE in 6th richest country

[wemustnotforget]

When this is all over (or maybe now) we must hold Boris and team responsible for risking so many lives.

Our health secretary said this -
“We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource it is,” he said on Friday. “Everyone should use the equipment they clinically need, in line with the guidelines: no more and no less.”

Nurses, porters, doctors are sacrificing their own safety and Matt Hockock has nerves to say they must not OVERUSE PPE, they dont have PPEs. Why was he chosen for this job when his background is in economics?

From wikipedia -
He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and graduated with a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and went on to Christ's College, Cambridge, to earn an MPhil degree in Economics.[5][6] Hancock became a member of the Conservative Party in 1999.[7]
After university, Hancock briefly worked for his family's computer software company, before moving to London to work as an economist at the Bank of England, specialising in the housing market.

A doctor who warned Boris a month ago about risks of medical staff working without PPEs has died of corona virus at the age of 53.

In his message to the prime minister, Dr Chowdhury wrote: "Please ensure urgently PPE for each and every NHS health worker in the UK.

"Remember we may be doctors/nurses/HCAs/allied health workers who are in direct contact with patients, but we are also human beings to practice human rights like others, to live in this world disease free with our family and children.

"Otherwise in future our children will lose interest to go to medical school.
news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-doctor-who-warned-prime-minister-about-ppe-dies-with-covid-19-11971068

And for those who are going to say I am making it political at the time of crisis, no I am not. I want this government to be accountable for their actions.

Why UK declined EU's offer of collective PPE purchase.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/no-10-boris-johnson-accused-of-putting-brexit-over-breathing-in-covid-19-ventilator-row

And half the Italian doctors who died were GPs - the community needs protection too

I was in the far east in January. I managed to get some washable masks (everyone wears masks out there) and brought them home. However, at the beginning of January lots of individuals and small businesses were buying large quantities to sell on Amazon/Ebay.
I have a friend out there who actually makes 40% of the dressings and surgical supplies for the NHS, has done for the last 35 years. They are making as many as they can churn out, but they can barely get the materials now.
There is a lot of hijacking/stealing going on all the way along the supply chain.
The government knew about this back in November, but they just didn't get organised in time, then when they did, there was already a shortage.
What they could do is get all the businesses in the UK that can work sewing machines to crack on and make the best quality scrubs and masks they can with whatever is available.
There is a surgeon in US who is making masks out of vacuum cleaner bags. He says they are better than the flimsy paper ones being provided atm.

The government knew about this back in November, but they just didn't get organised in time, then when they did, there was already a shortage.

2nd April:

"Nationwide in Germany "2,300 hospital staff members are infected with Sars-CoV-2,” reported the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) on Thursday following an inquiry to Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for public health."

"According to Baden-Württemberg's State Health Office, 566 infections were registered among medical staff in the southwestern state as of Wednesday, almost twice as many as in the previous week."

"According to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Bavaria, 244 medical practices are currently already closed in the southern state-141 due to employees in self-quarantine, 82 for lack of protective equipment, and 21 for lack of childcare."

"In Baden-Württemberg at least 80 medical practices are also closed."

"On Wednesday, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Bavaria addressed the public with a call for help and spoke of a "blatant lack of necessary protective equipment"."

"If new material does not arrive today, dark times are dawning for outpatient care in the Free State," stated a press release."

www.thelocal.de/20200402/over-2000-medical-staff-infected-with-coronavirus-in-germany

inews.co.uk/news/coronavirus-nhs-workers-died-frontline-nurses-doctors-2537166?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=jp_reshare

So definitely not 'less than 20'.

We were told by paramedics that came out to DH yesterday that they have more than enough PPE and think a lot of these stories about lack of PPE are being drummed up by the media.

When I've seen footage of paramedics they've been wearing a plastic apron, surgical mask and gloves. Is that what your paramedics were wearing? If so I wouldn't call that appropriate PPE.

How is it media stirring things up when it was the NHS distribution chain that said the level of gowns available was critical?

We were told by paramedics that came out to DH yesterday that they have more than enough PPE and think a lot of these stories about lack of PPE are being drummed up by the media That pretty much matches what our local parameics and care homes have said.

We are sewing up wash bags and making buttoned headbands for those who aren't used to the elastic of facemasks. But they have had enough PPE.

HOWEVER they have been told that the latest deliveries wil be delayed - a quick Google explains the issues with the supply chain from China! The issues are not UK government made, they originate elsewhere and will affect all countries who ordered PPE from China, which is most of them!

*Today 08:07 EffieIsATrinket

inews.co.uk/news/coronavirus-nhs-workers-died-frontline-nurses-doctors-2537166?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=jp_reshare

So definitely not 'less than 20'*

Reading that list 4 are carers not employed by the NHS.

2 aren’t what I’d call “frontline”- one worked for 111 where they don’t see patients, one was a lab based professor.

The media couldn’t possibly be misreporting for a better story?

The NHS is getting a load of support currently, as they should be. However I feel there are nurses and hca working for private hospitals who aren’t getting the support but are in even shittier situations. One private hospital i know is being dumped with the hopeless cases the nhs decide they can’t treat, so suddenly find themselves becoming palliative care nurses with no access and no idea about end of life drugs, care etc to relieve suffering.

I also saw a tweet from a mortuary tech- they are dealing with the covid bodies day in day out, but are council employees not nhs, so no access to shopping hours, discounts, support etc.

We were told by paramedics that came out to DH yesterday that they have more than enough PPE and think a lot of these stories about lack of PPE are being drummed up by the media paramedics came out to my friend’s mother last week - who has suspected COVID - they were not wearing any PPE except gloves. I know that care staff attending my mother wee given 3 surgical face masks and told not to use them unless they suspected Covid. My sil (Tory and Boris supporter - not their fault of course) works in a geriatric ward - she says the nurses don’t have PPE and they are terrified, she was in tears when we spoke she is do very worried about them- it’s not the media spreading these stories - these are people I know and trust to tell it like it is!

There was a care home manager on the news over the weekend saying that she had paid £8000 for masks which lasted ten days! It's not rocket science to realise that isn't sustainable and many homes aren't going to be able to afford that is it?

A lot of care homes were already struggling financially before this.

Exactly. So it is inevitable that if PPE is costing that much to buy then many homes won't have enough or it will be substandard.

Today only 1/5 of the necessary surgical gowns reached their destination trusts. 5, 000 instead of 25, 000 for one region.
There is no need for the media to exaggerate the truth. Most of the press is very right leaning and minimising the fiasco.

It’s like the ‘well test all care homes staff and residents’. It’s not exactly as reported.

It seems the hospital my relative works at does have enough PPE on the premises but the management decided to save it up and not give it to staff - what leads management to make decisions like this, all the wrong incentives I bet?

www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/nhs-died-coronavirus-frontline-workers-victims/amp/

53 deaths according to this article.

What is the ordering system? Does anyone know?
As far as I know, nobody is ordering PPE, even though manufacturers are producing it. It can't be sent to anyone unless orders are placed.
It is very strange.

Procurement is complex at the best of times.
www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-procurement

PPE and supplies related to pandemic are being managed centrally with trusts reporting daily. They were raising concerns about gowns a week ago. Yesterday many were saying no gowns after tomorrow afternoon - which is why guidance has been changed.
The advice is also to do a ‘robust’ review of staffing levels as too many staff will mean excess gowns are used.
Oxygen supplies are also an issue but press haven’t picked up on that yet. It seems as soon as there is a problem, the guidance is simply changed to accommodate the shortages.

Managers aren’t holding onto PPE. That’s hogwash.

Why is that all the Doctors that have died are all from BAME background?

I’m angry. Maybe because I am a nurse. I don’t work frontline but I’m angry for my friends, my colleagues.

Where are our unions? While guidance is blatantly changed retrospectively to reflect the stock levels, not to prioritise best practice and protect staff. Where is the HSE?

Leaving it to individuals to decide if they are willing to work knowing they don’t have adequate protection. They will, the overwhelming majority will work anyway, because it’s the nature of the job, their patients need them. They will knowingly take the risk. The unions should be leading here, they should be LOUD on this.

My local secondary schools have turned their DT depts into mini face visor production lines. The textile depts are sewing gowns and face masks and the PPE are delivered directly to the hospital.

It's embarrassing that the 6th richest nation has to rely on handouts from the public to fund its NHS.

I have seen it repeatedly said here that the government should have started preparing for this by stockpiling PPE in December. They did. I have managed the PPE procurement for my organisation through NHS supply chain and trusts were stockpiling from early January. By the end of January it was clear that this was in full swing.

@Casino218

What a ridiculous thing to say. Even if one particular hospital has enough PPE it's clear that others don't.

@Tentontessie

But not sufficiently and our stock pile was not large enough in the first place. The NHS is already working at full capacity without a pandemic and has been underfunded for 10 years - it simply can't cope with this additional pressure. The numbers are fairly clear - look at how many nurses and ICU beds we have per person. Look at how many nurses positions are vacant and how the tories removes grants for people to train as nurses.

By this point in the game clearly every government is going to struggle to get PPE. The issue with our government was our sluggish early response and 10 years of disdain for the NHS which left it in a worse position.

@HandfulOfDust I was recounting what the paramedics had said. I don't have a clue if they have enough or they don't. That's his comment.