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Found 287 results
  1. News Article
    Inquests into coronavirus deaths among NHS workers should avoid examining systemic failures in provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), coroners have been told, in a move described by Labour as “very worrying”. The chief coroner for England and Wales, Mark Lucraft QC, has issued guidance that “an inquest would not be a satisfactory means of deciding whether adequate general policies and arrangements were in place for provision of PPE to healthcare workers”. Lucraft said that “if there were reason to suspect that some human failure contributed to the person being infected with the virus”, an inquest may be required. The coroner “may need to consider whether any failures of precautions in a particular workplace caused the deceased to contract the virus and so contributed to death”. But he added: “An inquest is not the right forum for addressing concerns about high-level government or public policy.” Labour warned the advice could limit the scope of investigations into the impact of PPE shortages on frontline staff who have died from COVID-19. “I am very worried that an impression is being given that coroners will never investigate whether a failure to provide PPE led to the death of a key worker,” said Lord Falconer, the shadow attorney general. “This guidance may have an unduly restricting effect on the width of inquests arising out of Covid-19-related deaths.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 April 2020
  2. News Article
    There is growing concern that standard personal protective equipment (PPE), which often has a unisex design, doesn't always fit women properly. The Department of Health said the kit is designed to protect "both genders". However, healthcare workers are saying that even the smallest sizes are too big for some women - who make up 77% of the NHS workforce, according to NHS Digital figures from 2018. If it is too big it can be less effective in providing a complete barrier to the virus. "PPE is designed to be unisex and offer protection for both genders, although some products are available in different sizes to enable fit to both small and larger frames," said the Department of Health, in a statement. But the Royal College of Nursing has described "one-size-fits-all" personal protective equipment as "problematic" and "restrictive" when it can be worn for up to 12 hours during shifts. PPE includes gloves, masks, gowns and face shields. "Nurses can find it very difficult to treat patients if this equipment is so uncomfortable it makes them hot and unwell," said Rose Gallagher, professional lead for infection prevention and control. Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 April 2020
  3. News Article
    We don’t yet know the number of NHS staff who have lost their lives in the battle against COVID-19. On Wednesday, Dominic Raab put the figure at 69, but the true figure is considered to be far greater. These deaths are not “natural” casualties of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, they may be the result of a failure in the government’s duty to care for NHS staff, which is why it is vital it is properly investigated under the law. Since the pandemic reached the UK, we have heard countless reports of doctors and nurses raising the alarm over the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) when treating COVID-19 patients. How many of these deaths could have been prevented had sufficient PPE been provided to NHS workers? And if there is a lack of PPE, how did this happen? The health secretary, Matt Hancock, says the biggest challenge is “one of distribution rather than one of supply”. Should more have been done to meet this challenge, and if so what? Does the government have a legal duty to do more to protect the lives of healthcare workers? There must be investigations into the individual deaths of NHS workers, out of respect to them, and also so that future deaths can be prevented. The evidence appears to be that the government has failed to protect them from risk to their lives, and if that is the case then an investigation will be required by law. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 April 2020
  4. News Article
    A coronavirus patient’s terrifying hospital experience inspired an NHS doctor to create a flashcard system to improve communication with medical staff wearing face masks. Anaesthetist Rachael Grimaldi founded CARDMEDIC while on maternity leave after reading about a COVID-19 patient who was unable to understand healthcare workers through their personal protective equipment (PPE). Her system enables medical staff to ask critically ill or deaf coronavirus patients important questions and share vital information on digital flashcards displayed on a phone, tablet or computer. The idea went from concept to launch on 1 April in just 72 hours and is now being used by NHS trusts and hospitals in 50 countries across the world. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 April 2020 Read the 'Story behind CARDMEDIC', written by Rachael for the hub
  5. News Article
    Guy's and St Thomas' has received its first delivery of face shields created in a specially developed "3D printing farm", in collaboration with 3D printing companies and enthusiasts. The face shields will be worn by frontline medical staff tending to patients during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Several 3D printing manufacturers have been brought together at Guy's and St Thomas' supply chain hub in Dartford, with over 200 printers working 24 hours a day to make the face shields. This 3D printing farm can produce roughly 1,500 face shields a day. The face shields are paired with a visor, assembled by a team of volunteers made up of 3D printing enthusiasts, as well as students and staff from King's College London and Brunel University. Read full story Source: Guy's and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, 21 April 2020
  6. News Article
    A third of pharmacists cannot obtain continuous supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), according to a survey conducted by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS). The survey found that 34% of respondents said they were not able to source continued supplies of PPE as they work in the face of COVID-19. The poll of 445 pharmacists also revealed that 94% were unable to maintain social distancing of two metres from other staff in their pharmacy, mainly because the pharmacies — and the dispensaries in particular — were too small. A further 40% of respondents said they were unable to maintain social distancing of two metres from patients. The results of the survey, which ran between 14 and 20 April 2020, have come after Public Health England (PHE) updated its PPE guidance on 10 April 2020, which recommends that pharmacy staff only wear fluid-resistant (type IIR) surgical masks (FRSMs) when in “contact with possible or confirmed cases of COVID-19” and not around other pharmacy staff. Read full story Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 22 April 2020
  7. News Article
    NHS staff should “feel free” to speak out about problems like protective equipment shortages, Matt Hancock has said, despite many having been warned not to do so. The health and social care secretary told the daily coronavirus briefing on 21 April that it’s “totally normal” for NHS staff to raise concerns about personal protective equipment shortages in their areas and said “transparency is important”. HSJ has heard from multiple senior local NHS leaders that they have been given strong warnings not to communicate externally about the COVID-19 response, with national officials seeking to closely grip information given to the media. There have been several reports of healthcare professionals having been “gagged” by hospitals and NHS bodies, with some reports of threats of disciplinary action if they raise concerns on social media or speak to journalists. Read full story Source: HSJ, 21 April 2020
  8. News Article
    NHS supplies of face masks could be put at risk if the government starts advising the public to wear them, hospital bosses have warned. The government's scientific advisers are to meet later to discuss whether the public should be urged to wear masks in a bid to combat coronavirus, but Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, warned there should be "clear evidence" to justify their use. He said securing supplies for NHS staff amid huge global demand was "crucial". The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no evidence to support the use of face masks by the general population. It says people who are not in health and care facilities should only wear masks if they are sick or caring for those who are ill. But the debate around their use in the UK has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, with proponents arguing they can help reduce the risk of people with the virus passing it on to others. Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 April 2020
  9. News Article
    Some hospitals are washing single-use protective gowns at 60C so they can be used several times by frontline staff because of the ongoing shortage, according to a senior NHS official. Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, also said hospitals could not rely on government promises that more personal protective equipment (PPE) was on the way – saying there was “relatively low confidence” a shipment of 400,000 gowns would arrive from Turkey on Monday. The head of the membership organisation for NHS trusts in England said some trusts had taken to “hand-to mouth” arrangements, with one discovering that some types of gowns remained fluid-repellent if washed at high temperatures. “There is no doubt that at the moment, we have now got trusts who have definitely got shortages of gowns,” Mr Hopson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Trust leaders are doing absolutely everything they can to try and address that problem.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 20 April 2020
  10. News Article
    Concerns have been raised that updated government guidance on personal protective equipment (PPE) could put hospital staff and patients at risk. Healthcare workers have been advised to reuse gowns or wear different kit if stocks in England run low. Unions representing doctors and nurses have expressed concerns about the updated Public Health England guidance. Healthcare staff treating patients with Covid-19 have previously been advised to wear long-sleeved disposable fluid-repellent gowns. But Public Health England changed its guidance on Friday, outlining three options if the gowns are not available as "some compromise is needed to optimise the supply of PPE in times of extreme shortages". Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 April 2020
  11. News Article
    Dozens of NHS trusts fear running out of disposable gowns this weekend if they do not receive more supplies, while national officials have issued guidance on alternatives to use in extreme circumstances, HSJ has learned. Several well-placed sources in procurement reported widespread concerns, more severe than so far in the COVID-19 outbreak. One had information that at least 60 trusts would run out this weekend without supplies, and that it was likely the large majority of NHS providers were affected. One well-placed source told HSJ the situation today was “not normal even during this pandemic”. Another described the “critical” shortage as “a dire situation for everyone”. Read full story Source: HSJ, 17 April 2020
  12. News Article
    A leaked letter seen by the BBC has revealed an extensive list of concerns about how the social care sector is coping with the coronavirus crisis. The letter raises fears about funding, testing, personal protective equipment (PPE) and the shielding scheme for vulnerable people. Written on Saturday, to a senior official at the Department of Health and Social Care by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass), it says mixed messages from the government have created "confusion and additional workload". On protective equipment for care workers, the letter says the national handling has been "shambolic". Early drops of equipment have been "paltry" and more recent deliveries have been "haphazard", with some even being confiscated by border control for the NHS. And while the rollout of testing for care workers has been generally welcomed, the letter states "testing for care workers appears to be being rolled out without being given thought to who is going to be tested and what we are going to do with the result". Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 April 2020
  13. News Article
    Nurses at a hospital run by a major private healthcare provider have been threatened with disciplinary action after apparently refusing to treat coronavirus patients, according to a leaked email seen by HSJ. The email was sent on Sunday by a senior matron at Nuffield Health’s Cheltenham Hospital, which has been made available to the NHS during the COVID-19 outbreak. She said: “I’m hoping to get another undisturbed day as I’m going to have to formally take on everyone who won’t help on the C19 side." “Unfortunately, it will be a disciplinary matter and referral to the [Nursing and Midwifery Council]. I really don’t want to go down that route but they’re giving me little choice.” It is not clear why staff had refused to help with COVID-19 work, but one staff member who spoke with HSJ said nurses had objected to working without personal protective equipment. A spokesman for Nuffield Health said: “We can categorically state that we have been provided with a full supply of PPE from the local NHS trust so that all members of the team are protected when they treat COVID-19 patients. The team has also been given the appropriate training to ensure they can carry out their roles safely.” Read full story Source: HSJ, 14 April 2020
  14. News Article
    NHS staff still do not have the protective equipment they need to treat coronavirus patients, medics have said. The British Medical Association (BMA) said doctors were putting their lives at risk by working without adequate protection. It comes as the health secretary said 19 NHS workers had died with coronavirus since the outbreak began. Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 April 2020
  15. News Article
    London trusts have been warned not to expect deliveries of gowns from the national supply chain for at least the next few days, HSJ understands. Without central deliveries, providers risk running out of gowns ahead of the Easter weekend. Trusts will have to rely on existing supplies and any new stock they procure independently. Staff performing or assisting aerosol-generating procedures on confirmed or suspected covid-19 patients should wear gowns, according to the latest guidance from Public Health England. But supplies have been an issue for weeks, with trust procurement leads raising concerns about dwindling gown stocks last month. It recently emerged that gowns were not included in national pandemic stockpiles, unlike other forms of personal protective equipment like masks and gloves. Read full story Source: HSJ, 9 April 2020
  16. News Article
    Ambulance staff are being put at risk by a lack of protective equipment to guard them against coronavirus, according to a trade union. GMB says its members are "scared" about their own safety and their families. The union claims one in five ambulance staff in London are off sick with coronavirus-related sickness. The government says hundreds of millions of protective items have been delivered to NHS staff around the country. According to the GMB Union, 679 frontline ambulance crew in the London Ambulance Service are off sick due to Covid-19-related sickness. Among those at work, some say they feel unprotected either because of a lack of or inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE). Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 April 2020
  17. News Article
    Doctors in Britain are being “bullied and shamed” into treating patients with COVID-19 despite not having the masks, gowns and eyewear they need to protect themselves from the virus, frontline medics have said. Others are being told to hold their breath to avoid getting infected because of persistent shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) . The findings raise questions about how far a huge effort by NHS bosses, ministers and the military has succeeded in banishing previously widespread supply problems with PPE. “Lack of personal protective equipment continues to be a critical issue. It is heartbreaking to hear that some staff have been told to simply ‘hold their breath’ due to lack of masks,” said Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, the president of the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK). “Doctors are dying. Nurses are dying. We are devastated, and can no longer stand by and watch as more dedicated colleagues lose their life,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 April 2020
  18. News Article
    Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price has argued that the Welsh Government should appoint a procurement tsar to get to grips with Wales's serious shortage of COVID-19 testing kits, personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health and care staff and medical devices for patients. Wales is currently only testing 1,100 people a day when it was planning to test 6,000. This follows the collapse of an alleged deal between the Welsh Government and private company Roche which would have provided for 5,000 of those tests. Adam Price made the case for the appointment of a tsar whose "sole responsibility" would be the procurement and supply of COVID-19 tests, PPE, and oxygen and medical devices for Wales. He cited cases of care homes with just one or two boxes of surgical masks - each enough to last just two days for one patient, as well as hospital staff being forced to wear paper underwear over their hair due to the lack of any other protection. Read full story Source: Plaid Cymru Party of Wales, 6 April 2020
  19. News Article
    Adult social care services are to receive millions of personal protective equipment products following a national audit of personal protective equipment (PPE), HSJ can reveal. The government will deliver more than 30 million items to local resilience forums in the coming days, for distribution among social care and other front-line services, according to a letter seen by HSJ. The stock should not be sent to acute trusts or ambulance services, the letter, from health and social care secretary Matt Hancock and housing, communities and local government secretary Robert Jenrick, stated. Describing an “urgent need” for PPE in front-line services, Mr Hancock and Mr Jenrick asked local planners to distribute this latest batch of stock “only where there is a clear and pressing need”. Read full story Source: HSJ, 6 April 2020
  20. News Article
    A healthcare worker in north-west London quit her job after she was refused permission to wear a protective face mask, the Guardian has learned. In her resignation letter, Tracy Brennan chastised her superiors at Hillingdon Hospitals NHS foundation trust for forbidding her from wearing a surgical mask she had bought to protect herself – and the patients she was caring for – from contracting the deadly virus. Brennan, a healthcare assistant, said she had returned to work after self-isolating for 14 days because her daughter had shown symptoms of Covid-19. She said that patients in the ward where she was working, which was not a coronavirus treatment ward, felt comfortable with her wearing the surgical mask and some positively encouraged her to do so. Brennan wrote: “With a heavy heart and sadness, I feel I have no alternative but to hand this letter in as my formal resignation and will be unable to work my notice due to not being allowed to wear sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) for the duties I perform.” Read full story Source: Guardian, 4 April 2020
  21. News Article
    Almost 400 care companies which provide home support across the UK have told the BBC they still do not have enough personal protective equipment (PPE). Without protection, providers say they may not be able to care for people awaiting hospital discharge. Of 481 providers, 381 (80%) said they did not have enough PPE to be able to support older and vulnerable people. The government said it was working "around the clock" to give the sector the equipment it needs. The BBC sent questions to the nearly 3,000 members of the UK Homecare Association. About a quarter of respondents said they have either run out of masks or have less than a week's supply left. Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 April 2020
  22. News Article
    The government has ordered an urgent national audit of personal protective equipment (PPE), body bags, swabs and infection control products, HSJ can reveal. Local resilience forum planners were earlier this week asked to share stock levels and daily consumption rates of the items at ambulance, acute trusts and in primary care and other services by 9pm on Tuesday. They were asked to indicate whether each figure represented a “major” or “minor” supply problem, or no problem at all, in an email seen by HSJ. As well as trusts, resilience forum staff were asked to share stock levels among adult social care services, numbers of mortuary staff, other local authority staff, police, prisons, fire and rescue services and funeral directors. The email also asked planners if local services had access to PPE supplies above their immediate need and whether local authorities were in discussions with any private PPE suppliers. The email noted the Department of Health and Social Care wanted to develop a “systematic days of supply picture” for all PPE at all providers. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 April 2020
  23. News Article
    Frontline doctors have told the Independent they have been gagged from speaking out about shortages of protective equipment as they treat coronavirus patients – with some claiming managers have threatened their careers. Staff have been warned not to make any comments about shortages on social media, as well as avoiding talking to journalists, while NHS England has taken over the media operations for many NHS hospitals and staff. The Independent has seen a series of emails and messages warning staff not to speak to the media during the coronavirus outbreak. One GP has been barred from working in a community hospital in Ludlow after making comments about the lack of equipment, while another in London said they were told to remove protective equipment they had purchased themselves. NHS England confirmed it was controlling media communications, which it said was part of its national emergency incident planning to ensure the public received “clear and consistent information”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 April 2020
  24. News Article
    Amid growing shortages of vital protective equipment in New York hospitals, healthcare workers are desperately scrounging to find facemasks, hiding supplies from colleagues in other departments, and sometimes even pilfering for themselves. The novel coronavirus has infected nearly 45,000 across New York, and more than 550,000 globally. Nurses in New York City were shaken on Tuesday, when Kious Kelly, a nurse manager at a Mount Sinai Health System hospital, died after being infected. Nurses who would normally use masks and other protective gear only once are keeping them for entire shifts or longer to conserve supplies. "Masks disappear," said Diana Torres, a Mount Sinai nurse. "We hide it all in drawers in front of the nurses' station. We hide masks, we have to hide chucks for beds," she said, referring to incontinence pads. Read full story Source: MedScape Nurses, 30 March 2020
  25. News Article
    A paramedic in the London Ambulance Service (LAS) has claimed the kit workers have been given to protect them from coronavirus would be more suitable for people making sandwiches. The south London medic, who did not want to be identified, said the basic apron, gloves and masks were not sufficient protection from infection. "It feels like every day I'm exposing myself and potentially my family to this virus," he told the BBC. In a document seen by the BBC, LAS has told its paramedics to wear basic PPE - a plastic apron, gloves and a surgical mask - for most call-outs. The advanced PPE - including a white boiler suit, FFP3 mask, and goggles - is reserved only for confirmed cases of coronavirus, and in situations where paramedics have to perform invasive procedures such as full CPR. Read full story Source: BBC News, 31 March 2020
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