CORONAVIRUS CRISIS: Questions over PPE linger as UK frontline staff fatalities reach 171

BMA survey reveals half of England’s doctors have sourced their own PPE, or received donated equipment, since the Coronavirus outbreak began. 

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The number of confirmed Coronavirus-related deaths among frontline health and care workers is now 171 – a tragic loss of life that has left senior NHS personnel asking why the UK’s figures are far worse than similar-sized states.

A memorial to staff who have died while tackling Coronavirus, with data verified by the nursing website Nursing Notes, shows that 171 named individuals have now died as a result of the pandemic.

Almost 60% of those who have died come from the UK’s black and minority ethnic (BAME) population – further indication that minorities are being disproportionately affected by the disease which emerges from the virus, Covid-19.

Byline Times and Nursing Notes have published the updated figures for staff fatalities following news that almost half of England’s doctors (48%) have been forced to source their own personal protection equipment (PPE), or relied on a donation, during the pandemic. The shocking figures emerged from a survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) – which also showed that two-thirds of doctors still feel only partly, or not at all, protected in the course of their work.

Problems accessing PPE appear to be worse among GPs, the survey showed, and there are some indications that access to PPE for some frontline staff has improved slightly in recent weeks. Nonetheless, the BMA’s latest survey should act as a warning to ministers and procurement officials within the NHS and care sectors.

Commenting on the updated list of frontline staff fatalities, one senior hospital doctor told Byline Times: “Each one of these staff deaths represents a human, family and professional tragedy and we must quickly learn the lessons from this awful pandemic to ensure that, in similar circumstances in the future, we can mitigate risks and the loss of life among frontline staff.”

The doctor continued: “More work needs to be done to explain why the UK’s figures for frontline staff deaths appear to be worse than those across similar-sized health systems dealing with large numbers of Covid-19 cases.

“It would be foolhardy to speculate in detail. However, it must be said that there has been a level of staff discontent about some supplies of personal protection equipment (PPE) – as shown by the BMA survey. We must keep asking ourselves: are we, as a country, doing everything that we can to keep our staff as safe as possible?”

Byline Times will update its memorial to frontline staff every week throughout the Coronavirus outbreak. Our friends at Nursing Notes will update the website’s memorial page here daily.