The Health Secretary has today pledged to keep NHS staff safe after frontline medics revealed they were forced the share facemasks.
Nurses working 36-hour shifts in Hillingdon Hospital – in the Prime Minister’s constituency – say they had to wash, reuse and share masks as supplies fell critically low last week.
They told MailOnline they were left without any protective equipment despite looking after patients who had tested positive for Covid-19.
Matt Hancock said protecting staff was his ‘top priority’ as he confirmed the armed forces are being drafted in to help manage and distribute supplies to hospitals.
He warned doctors and nurses feel like ‘cannon fodder’ because of a lack of protective equipment and kits.
It also follows a letter in the Sunday Times from almost 4,000 NHS workers who called on the Prime Minister to ‘protect the lives of the life-savers’ and resolve the ‘unacceptable’ shortage of protective equipment.
In a video on Instagram last night addressing NHS staff and social care workers, Mr Hancock said: ‘I want to say a huge thank you on behalf of the nation and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.
‘This is my absolute top priority because you are keeping the country safe and I want to keep you safe.’
Medics are working around the clock to save the lives of coronavirus patients, and the public have shown their appreciation, including in Manchester, pictured
Matt Hancock took to Instagram to thank doctors and nurses and assure them they were his ‘top priority’
In their letter to The Sunday Times, the 4,000-strong group said many medical workers are ‘putting their lives on the line every day’ by treating coronavirus patients without appropriate protection, and they called on Mr Johnson to ensure an adequate supply of masks, safety glasses, gloves, aprons and protective suits.
Mr Hancock told the BBC today there have been ‘challenges’ with the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) but that he was taking the issue ‘very seriously’.
NHS England said millions more items of PPE had been delivered over the last few days to hospitals, ambulance trusts and care homes among others.
NHS England said the army would ‘play its part’ from this week, offering personnel to ‘help to manage and offload supplies in busy NHS settings’ and distributing PPE supplies to the front line.
Mr Hancock told the broadcaster: ‘I am determined to ensure that the right kit gets to the right hospital, the right ambulance service, the right doctors’ surgery, right across the country.
‘There have been challenges and I can see that. We’re on it and trying to solve all the problems.’
There have been increased pressure on the supply chain of PPE owing to the outbreak of Covid-19 as well as the related manufacturing slowdown particularly in China, the NHS said.
Emily Lawson, chief commercial officer for the NHS, said: ‘We need massively increased, urgent volume of these supplies to the frontline in this exceptional set of circumstances.
‘Working with our partners, we are now seeing much increased capacity, and a more responsive supply chain to help take us through the coronavirus outbreak. We are extremely grateful for the army’s support in doing so.’
Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Programme yesterday, Dr Rinesh Parmar said NHS staff dealing with the coronavirus outbreak are still not getting the protective equipment they need.
Doctors’ Association chairman Dr Rinesh Parmar made a direct appeal to Boris Johnson as he urged him to divert more resources to hospital staff fighting to hold back a flood of cases and save lives
‘We have had doctors tell us they feel like lambs to the slaughter, that they feel like cannon fodder. GPs tell us that they feel absolutely abandoned,’ he said.
‘We are all pleading with Boris Johnson that they really look into arranging the vital personal protection equipment that all of us need on the NHS frontline.
‘What our doctors are telling us is that although equipment is arriving, some of it is inadequate, some of it doesn’t meet the World Health Organisation guidance.
‘That really doesn’t fill front-line healthcare staff with the confidence that they need.’
It came as seven more people in Wales have died after contracting the coronavirus, taking the UK total to 240 amid a widening social clampdown on movement.
Speaking on Sky’s Ridge on Sunday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘NHS staff have not all got full protective equipment at the moment or protective clothing, care staff have almost none at all and care workers, some of whom work in care homes, are obviously at risk but even more at risk are the care workers who are going from house to house of their clients and clearly are in danger of either contracting or spreading the virus.’
Earlier Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and current chairman of the Health Select Committee, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the NHS has ‘moved heaven and earth’ to get protective equipment to every hospital.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick added: ‘By this afternoon, every hospital in the country will have the next set of supplies of PPE.
‘We’ve also delivered them to pharmacists and the GP surgeries. This coming week supplies will be delivered to all social care providers.
‘We are manufacturing and importing very large quantities now. In recent days we’ve received almost three million face masks for example.
‘PPE will get to the frontline as soon as possible.’