@leafygarden Oh yes.
The nurse I live with (who trained in South Africa and has nursed Ebola and Dengue fever patients and lived to tell the tale) is horrified at the lack of PPE, she's experienced it personally in the last week.
The story there (non-NHS) is even worse; the clinical lead ordered masks in good time but the initial order was refused by THE ACCOUNTS PEOPLE. The clinical lead then ordered directly, but the demand meant the masks were late in arriving so staff had NO PPE while looking after folk who were very definitely vulnerable. On this occasion, it wasn't COVID-19, but it easily could have been. The paramedics were beyond speechless when they arrived (we have a good ambulance service locally, thank God).
My Australian cousin sent me a photo from their front line and I could have wept at how good their kit was in comparison to what's available here - full kit, visor, proper fitted face mask, sleeves to the wrist, gloves. We're literally now looking through the house for any high thread cotton we can repurpose temporarily. We ordered a couple of masks online many weeks ago when this all started but they haven't arrived yet. (We hope they're due this week.)
I do also question the wisdom of sending 750,000 well-meaning volunteers in to accompany people into NHS settings. I'd be interested to see what, if any, infection control training they get. Unless, of course, it's all deliberate, as right now nothing would surprise me.
I'm also really curious as to why the only evidence that appears to carry any weight with the government is Imperial's flawed model (would have helped if they'd used the right disease), and more recently, Cambridge. (PHE's Sharon Peacock is ex-Cambridge, interestingly.) (Other medical schools and pharmaceutical departments are available. I'm presuming Roche will be making a fortune out of this at some point, as usual.)