Coronavirus PPE Crisis Deepens As Thousands Of Doctors Run Out Completely

Thousands of doctors have completely run out of essential items of PPE in the latest devastating crisis to grip the NHS front line.

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For weeks, the Sunday Mirror has told how medics battling to save lives faced crippling shortages of drugs and equipment.
Now some say they have no supply at all of vital equipment like gowns, gloves, fluid repellent face masks and respirators.

An ICU doctor working at a London hospital said the critical care unit ran out of gowns on Friday, May 1 and masks on Tuesday, May 5.

She said: “I have had to treat patients without a gown on because we have completely run out. Just my scrubs, with gloves and a mask.

When a patient needs to be proned [turned onto their stomachs] and ventilated, what are we supposed to do? We can’t leave them to die.

“There have been instances where I’ve not been wearing a gown and nurses haven’t been wearing masks.

“One member of staff has stopped coming to work because her mum has Type 2 diabetes and without PPE, she’s terrified she’ll infect her. I often find myself standing in front of a patient, knowing I’m not protected enough.”

We can also reveal that more than 4,000 doctors say they have felt pressured to treat patients without adequate PPE, including almost 1,500 performing the most high-risk procedures.

While nearly 1,000 medics say they’re running low on oxygen –three weeks after we warned of shortages – and thousands are still struggling to get the drugs they need to treat patients a month after we raised the alarm.

The medics were responding to a survey from the British Medical Association.

The revelations come as the Government quietly changed PPE guidelines this week – saying FFP2 respirators could now be used to replace fluid repellent face masks.

But doctors say these masks are also in short supply.

Health officials said: “This is a pragmatic approach for times of severe shortage.”

It was also revealed this week that 400,000 gowns flown in from Turkey failed NHS standards.

Dr Richard Vautrey, from the BMA, said: “The UK is now seven weeks into lockdown and it is unacceptable that we should still be worrying about availability of these essential items that protect both healthcare workers and patients.

“It’s vital that any changes to official guidance can be bolstered by government supplies and that PPE availability becomes an issue of the past, not one healthcare professionals across the country find themselves living with every day.”

One GP working in the Midlands told us: “I’m reusing masks to ensure we have stock. Supplies are often low. We were down to two days’ supply of PPE at one point.”

Some 1,620 doctors working across hospitals and GP practices said they had no access to eye protection.

Another 706 reported having no fluid repellent face masks; 893 no scrubs and 522 no goggles.

In addition, 107 said they had no gloves; 176 no long-sleeved gowns; 210 no aprons; 154 no full face visors; 174 no FFP2 respirators and 68 no FFP3 masks.

Across both settings, 955 said they’d experienced shortages of oxygen. We told last month how medics warned their supplies were drying up.

It came just two weeks after Watford General Hospital was forced to declare a critical incident after its oxygen supplies became dangerously low – and had to warn patients not to come to A&E.

A further 917 doctors said they were running low on sedatives like propofol, used for critically ill patients on ventilators, something we warned of four weeks ago.

Some 1,244 said they were short of opioids, while 1,073 said they were running low on other painkillers, such as paracetamol.

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Our NHS and care staff are putting themselves at risk at a time of national crisis.

The least they deserve is the gowns and goggles they need.

“Now we’re hearing the situation is so desperate hospitals are running out of medicines and oxygen.”

The Health and Safety Executive has received 54 reports of coronavirus deaths in health and care settings and is reportedly considering criminal probes.

It comes as 100,000 people signed an open letter to Boris Johnson this week demanding a public inquiry into the deaths of healthcare workers and PPE shortages.

The Health Department did not reply to requests for a comment.

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