‘Would you send one of YOUR family into a coronavirus ward in a cagoule?’: Piers Morgan rages at Cabinet Minister Simon Clarke over ‘shameful’ handling of PPE and him ‘not having a clue’ how many health care staff have died
Piers Morgan slammed a government minister today over his failure to ensure NHS staff treating coronavirus patients have the protective equipment they need.
The Good Morning Britain presenter criticised Local Government Minister Simon Clarke over his ‘shameful’ handling of the problem during the pandemic.
Morgan said Mr Clarke ‘didn’t have a clue’ how many healthcare workers had died from the virus – with Mr Clarke saying 49, but Morgan insisting it was over 100.
Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan slammed a government minister on Good Morning Britain today amid the ongoing personal protective equipment scandal
Local Government Minister Simon Clarke was criticised over his ‘shameful’ handling of the problem during the pandemic, during an interview by phone on the ITV programme today
The host also held up a photo from today’s Daily Mail of nurses wearing cagoules because they did not have proper equipment to protect them from the infection.
And Morgan, who was alongside Susanna Reid this morning, asked the Conservative MP: ‘Would you send one of your family into a COV-19 ward wearing a cagoule?’
It comes as Parliament returns today amid mounting criticism of the Government over its failure to ensure NHS staff have the protective equipment they need.
Ministers have insisted they are pursuing ‘every possible option’ to secure more kit but said that, with unprecedented global demand, the situation is ‘very challenging’.
Morgan appeared alongside co-presenter Susanna Reid on ITV’s Good Morning Britain today
Morgan held up a photo from today’s Daily Mail of nurses wearing cagoules because they did not have proper equipment to protect them from the infection
The first of three RAF flights finally left yesterday for Turkey to begin collecting a consignment of personal protective equipment including 400,000 surgical gowns.
But it is unclear when the items will arrive in the UK – with Mr Clarke, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland’s MP, saying only that it would be in the ‘next few days’.
The Government said meanwhile that 140,000 gowns had arrived from Burma – but with the NHS using 150,000 a day, the demand on resources remains intense.
With fears that staff in hospitals and care homes are risking their lives, the TUC called for an independent inquiry into the Government’s handling of the issue.
Tearful nurses are being forced to wear these overalls after NHS staff in the Yorkshire and Humber area said they have been ‘provided with clothing that resembles cagoules’
The cagoule picture was released after nurses in the Yorkshire and Humber area said they have been ‘provided with clothing that resembles cagoules’.
A Royal College of Nursing official said: ‘They are so worried and afraid. They cry before they go to work, they cry at work and they cry when they come home.’
The latest figures show 16,509 patients had died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Sunday, up by 449 on the previous day.
At the daily press conference yesterday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak insisted the Government was improving its sourcing of PPE internationally and domestically.
But the medical director of Public Health England, Professor Yvonne Doyle, indicated that staff could refuse to work if they believe they are not properly protected.