Whistleblower nurse says 80 per cent of NHS staff on one hospital ward have caught coronavirus due to lack of PPE protective gear
- Nurse at Arrow Park Hospital on the Wirral said staff have contracted the virus
- Hospital previously received British Wuhan evacuees flown back to the UK
- Until this week some medics on wards had been given no PPE whatsoever
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
A whilstleblower nurse has today claimed that 80 per cent of NHS staff working on one hospital ward have contracted the coronavirus due to a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) being provided to them.
An NHS medic has said that staff working on non-coronavirus wards at Arrow Park Hospital on the Wirral were left with inadequate PPE.
The anonymous staff member said there are now 15 staff members who are not working as they are suspected to have the virus.
Arrow Park Hospital had originally received British Wuhan evacuees that had been flown back to the UK from the hub of the pandemic.
Staff are pictured above wearing personal protective equipment, many NHS workers have said there is a shortage
An NHS medic has said that staff working on non-coronavirus wards at Arrow Park Hospital on the Wirral were left with inadequate PPE
Speaking to The Sun, the medic said one nurse had gone home and has now passed the virus on to her husband who remains in a critical condition.
They said: ‘Until this week we’d been given no PPE whatsoever. We were just using our usual gloves, not even paper masks.
‘All the best stuff is being reserved for intensive care, which is fine, but the rest of the wards are being left to struggle.
‘We are putting our lives on the lines and the government is failing us’.
Arrow Park hospital had originally received British Wuhan evacuees that had been flown back to the UK from the hub of the pandemic. Those arriving at the hospital are pictured above in February
The medic said people would be shocked if they were able to witness conditions in the hospital right now and added that little community testing was also putting lives at risk.
They added that people with suspected coronavirus are still being brought to the hospital.
Claiming that many don’t actually have the virus but that as soon as they are admitted to a Covid-19 ward there ‘is a huge chance they will get it’.
‘Some people are being given a death sentence by not being tested outside hospitals’, they added.
A spokesperson for Wirral University Teaching Hospital said staff were following Public Health England advice and self-isolating if they developed symptoms
‘Staff are following Public Health England advice and self-isolating if they develop symptoms.
‘This is to protect the safety of our staff and patients. During this time, we can assure you that our hospitals remain adequately staffed.
‘While we don’t discuss staff members’ personal medical information, if any staff members have any concerns at all, we have established ways for these to be raised through their line manager or through a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian’.
‘There is adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) throughout our Trust and staff are encouraged to wear PPE in line with national guidance.’
This morning Dr Rachel Clarke, who works in palliative care in Oxford, told Good Morning Britain that the government needed to be honest about the lack of PPE in hospitals.
‘Take the last month, the official Public Health England advice on PPE has changed three times and the most profound of those has been a down grade on standards of PPE.
‘We all know it’s not based on the best science, science hasn’t changed three times in the last month. So they have downgraded the level of PPE.’
She added that many medics understood there was a shortage because of the pandemic, but that not enough was being done.
MailOnline has contacted the NHS trust that oversees the Wirral University Teaching Hospital.