Supply and demand of PPE

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).