Doctors threaten to stop treating patients over PPE as officials call for ‘adult conversation’

The NHS Confederation is backing doctors who refuse to treat coronavirus patients with inadequate PPE as the Deputy Chief Medical Officer held up crisis Britain as an ‘international exemplar in preparedness’.

Dr Jenny Harries told an ITV reporter that ‘we could perhaps have a more adult, and more detailed conversation about PPE supplies’ as the Government comes under fire for its disastrous PPE policy.

She refused to be drawn on the decision of the NHS Confederation to back medical professionals who refuse to endanger their own health if forced to re-use supplies including gowns, masks, and goggles.

The Confederation joins the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Nurses and Midwives, and the British Medical Association in supporting thousands on the frontline who are risking their own wellbeing.

It comes as Britain recorded 596 coronavirus-related deaths today, bringing the national death toll to 16,060.

Dr Harries said: ‘I think we have had, if I might say from my own professional perspective, we could perhaps have a more adult, and more detailed conversation about PPE supplies.

‘For example, quite rightly, the conversation at the moment is very much focused on gown supplies. Earlier, in earlier weeks, I’m very aware of consideration of eye-wear for example, in goggles and masks.’ 

The Government has come under fire for its disastrous PPE policy, as Matt Hancock appointed a ‘personal protective tsar’ to take on the shortage of supplies across NHS trusts in the UK. 

On another frantic day with tensions rising in the coronavirus battle: 

• Britain recorded 596 more deaths today, taking the official national death toll to 16,060 to date; 
• The Government was accused by Labour of ‘treating the public like children’ by refusing to spell out how the exit strategy from lockdown might look, with Keir Starmer demanding a ‘road map’ out of the crisis; 
• OECD chief Angel Gurria warned there will have to be ‘stop-go’ arrangements in place for ‘social distancing’ for a long time to come, urging governments to ‘err on the side of caution’; 
• The Irish health minister has suggested that pubs might not be able to open until there is a coronavirus vaccine, which some believe will take more than a year; 
• Infectious diseases expert Sir Jeremy Farar, a member of the SAGE advisory group, has cautioned that the lockdown ‘cannot go on much longer’ as it is ‘damaging all our lives’; 
• A consignment of PPE, including desperately-needed gowns, that Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick boasted would arrive today from Turkey is reportedly delayed;
• The chairman of the British Medical Association council said it had warned the Government ‘weeks ago’ about the risk of personal protective equipment shortages but hit a ‘brick wall’;
• Michael Gove said the UK had sent PPE equipment to China early in the outbreak, but insisted it was not part of the UK’s pandemic stocks and stressed the Asian superpower had since sent back more; 
• One of the scientists leading efforts to make the breakthrough warned it is not ‘completely certain’ that a coronavirus vaccine can be produced, with Mr Gove admitting no-one should see it as a ‘dead cert’.

Prof Neil Mortensen from the Royal College of Surgeons told his colleagues not to risk their health if good PPE could not be used when treating coronavirus patients.  

He said: ‘We are deeply disturbed by this latest change to personal protective equipment guidance, which was issued without consulting medical bodies. 

‘After weeks of working with PHE and our sister medical royal colleges to get PPE guidance right, this risks confusion and variation in practice across the country.’ 

The BMA said last night it will support doctors who refuse to work without adequate PPE.

Dr Chaand Nagpul, BMA council chair, said: ‘There are limits to the level of risk staff can be expected to expose themselves and their patients to. In the most extreme circumstances, if adequate protective measures are not in place, doctors can refuse to put themselves at risk of becoming infected, and inform their management to make alternative arrangements’.   

Dr Harries called the pandemic a ‘huge pull on services which we have never seen before’. She continued: ‘We have managed actually despite signalling many potential shortfalls to continue to supply going forward, and even as I stand here, I know with the gown position, for example, that even though when orders go in overseas, supplies may be very different what is received to what we think we’re going to get.  

‘We perhaps need to, rather than lumping all of the PPE together, which is not a homogeneous mix at all, we just need to think carefully through what has been achieved and the challenges which are acknowledged ahead.’

When asked why the Government has not responded to manufacturers willing to produce PPE, Gavin Williamson said that they will be contacted in the next 24 hours.

The Education Secretary said that a billion extra PPE have been brought into the country while the Government was doing ‘immense work’ in trying to find British suppliers. He encouraged those suppliers who have been in contact with the Government and have ‘slipped through the net’ to get in touch again. 

He added: ‘We recognise this is a national endeavour and we are so incredibly grateful for so many people who are willing to step forward to make a real difference, and we certainly don’t want to miss out on those opportunities.’

The press conference comes amid intensifying fears that underfunding during a prolonged period of austerity has left the NHS inadequately prepared in terms of PPE for a pandemic.

Mr Hancock appointed Lord Deighton, chief planner from the London 2012 Olympics, as ‘PPE tsar’ after the Government issued guidance stating that medics would have to re-use PPE supplies.  

Lord Deighton, 64, who is personally known to Boris Johnson from the Olympics, will be charged of the ‘end-to-end process of design through to manufacture’ including streamlining approvals’, sources claim.