A massive UK National Health Service recruitment drive to help contain the COVID-19 pandemic risks being undermined by the prospect of doctors quitting over fears of inadequate protective equipment, groups representing frontline staff say. The Guardian quotes Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, as saying that 11,788 retired NHS staff had agreed to come back to work to help tackle the crisis – and announced the creation of a new 250,000-strong corps of “NHS Volunteer Responders”, who would be asked to take essential supplies to the most vulnerable people being “shielded” at home.
But as the crisis reaches what is expected to be its most dangerous period, doctors’ and nurses’ groups say their members are being expected to take unacceptable risks. Dr Rinesh Parmar, chair of the Doctors’ Association UK, which represents grassroots medics, is quoted in the report as saying: “The longer this epidemic goes on for, if doctors feel that there is a widespread lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), then some doctors may feel they have no choice but to give up the profession they love, because they feel so abandoned by not being given the PPE that the World Health Organisation recommends.
The Royal College of Nursing, which represents Britain’s 400,000 nurses, also signalled its deep unease with the serious shortages of PPE and said the issue could compel nurses to choose between their jobs and their safety.
NHS England and the government have made a major effort since the weekend to address concerns about protective gear. The army has been called in to help deliver millions of pieces of PPE since the weekend and 200 different hospitals are receiving extra kit.
The report says Hancock has promised to “strain every sinew” to ensure NHS staff had the equipment they needed.
Lack of staff testing, workforce shortages and running out of personal protective equipment are the three biggest concerns for trusts fighting the coronavirus outbreak. A Health Services Journal report says this is according to a trust CEO survey conducted over the last 36 hours.
Thirteen of the 34 trust CEO who responded to the snap survey, who were from trusts across England, also warned they would run out of intensive care capacity by next week as the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise. The survey also revealed some trusts were already being forced to dilute safe staffing ratios and ration facilities. One chief warned: “We are preserving ventilation capacity by ensuring that only those who may survive are considered.”
However, the majority of respondents were supportive of system leaders’ guidance so far.
The report says the three biggest areas of concern raised by the chiefs surveyed were: lack of staff testing, raised by 26 of the 34 respondents (77%); staff shortages, raised by 26 of the 34 respondents (77%); and PPE shortages, raised by 23 of the 34 respondents (68%).
The responses also underlined intensive care capacity is running out fast in a significant number of trusts.
[link url="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/24/doctors-threaten-to-quit-over-protective-equipment-shortage"]Full report in The Guardian[/link]
[link url="https://www.hsj.co.uk/policy-and-regulation/exclusive-staff-in-near-revolt-over-protective-gear-crisis/7027216.article?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTlRGbU9EWmlOek14TXpGaiIsInQiOiI4WDRycHV4Q3puTjMyMHN6VEIrUW1icUtKZXA5RHBXTEtkamxyZWhGTFBYYzJxbE5vUHRsRE1jU0pkWHhcL2J0TEI1MWN4K1BDNlRYZ0tabGlZY2QzUFkyNWxsR0c5VmpVSHB5UHMrTG1YTjdjQjdCNDMwT0wyVGJUQXhOUVluRVkifQ%3D%3D"]Full Health Services Journal report[/link]