With the increasing number of tragic deaths of frontline staff in the UK, the adequate provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the NHS has been called into question by professional bodies, industry and the public at large. Perraudin (2020) links the shortages of PPE in healthcare settings with an increasing death toll among frontline workers.
Although attempting to place pressure on the Government, key nursing leaders were excluded from critical parliamentary discussions regarding the provision of PPE for frontline staff, following widespread criticism of the Government (Ford, 2020). The Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Dame Donna Kinnair was compelled to write directly to both the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and then to the Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive, Sarah Albon, to express serious concerns for members regarding lack of PPE and the associated risks this poses in the transmission of COVID-19, as concerns appeared to be ignored (Kinnair, 2020a; 2020b). The British Medical Association (BMA) has indicated that, despite Government assurances of adequate stockpiles, due to the prolonged nature of the COVID-19 crisis, this supply will not be adequate, posing a huge risk to frontline staff (BMA, 2020).
An RCN survey of members has demonstrated increased pressure on staff because of access to, and use of, PPE. Some 13 605 members responded to this survey, highlighting critical issues in relation to PPE supply and use. There is huge variation across the UK regarding access to PPE. Findings indicated there are still shortages of essential equipment in all settings, particularly face and eye protectors, but also filtering face piece (FFP3) respirators and disposable fluid-repellent coveralls for use in high-risk environments.
Many respondents said that they have been asked to reuse single-use PPE. This is not safe, and will not provide adequate protection for those using it or the patients they are caring for. Although a very high proportion of respondents reported that they have raised concerns with their managers, these concerns were not always addressed (RCN, 2020).
Arguably, there is more to be done to ease the problem of PPE supply, as concerns remain regarding provision. Given the global demand for PPE, in April the BMA (2020) joined with nursing and healthcare unions, alongside the Aerospace and Defence Federation and the British Printing Industries Federation to call on the Government to take action. They request that it implements immediate strategies to repurpose furloughed or underutilised manufacturing capacity to meet the large-scale demand for PPE and highlighted some key concerns:
There are currently significant problems regarding the effective provision of appropriate PPE across all sectors of healthcare and this burden may grow with the planned increased capacity for hospital beds.
There is clear evidence that this lack of provision is placing frontline workers at risk with the increasing numbers of tragic deaths of those providing essential healthcare services.
By mid-May, some 200 NHS workers were thought to have died and health professionals were concerned about PPE stocks in the event of a second wave of the virus (Siddique, 2020).
Pressure from nursing and other healthcare unions is highlighting this issue with government agencies and is serving to drive changes to policies and guidelines. But, for some of our frontline colleagues, this has been too little too late, and has meant them paying the ultimate price.