Fri 1 May 2020, 05:44 AM | Posted by editor
LETTER from Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbot Labour Party member
Panorama last week examined the Government’s failure to provide appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for many health professionals during the pandemic. Richard Bilton interviewed a number of doctors and nurses who felt that the lack of PPE has put staff at risk of contracting Covid-19.
Around 100 health workers have died as a result of contracting the virus. Professor John Ashton, the former President of the Faculty for Public Health said that “there is no excuse” for the failure to supply appropriate PPE. The Tories falsely claim that around a billion items of PPE have been sent to those on the frontline, but they counted gloves as two items and all individual disposable items. It also included items which are not protective equipment, such as cleaning materials and towels. A case of playing fast and loose with the figures. Pictures of staff with homemade kit have been widely-circulated on social media platforms.
Warnings of flu pandemics have been made in the past and stockpiles of protective equipment and related supplies were supposed to be already in place. The Government was also advised back in the beginning of February of this year to stockpile for PPE. A month of inaction resulted in widespread shortages of gowns, visors and swabs.
Covid-19 down-graded by the government
Bilton interviewed the boss of a company who said they were approached by Government in February about gowns and masks. However, no order was placed, and they were currently supplying the US with gowns. The company reckoned it could have supplied a further 300,000 gowns to the NHS if an order had been made. The European Centre for Disease Control gave advice in February on the need to stockpile and a month passed before the Government acted on this advice.
Panorama also spoke to a GP who said that they were unable to rely on the NHS supply chain and had to order their own supplies. Professor Ashton said that this was the worst health crisis in a hundred years and yet the government had downgraded Covid-19 because of the relatively low death rate and the ability to test virus.
Bilton concluded that NHS and Care staff have been let down in terms of the supply of PPE. NHS staff have been treated as heroes, but as one nurse put it, “it makes it OK when we die”. The main problem with this Panorama programme, was that it failed to explain why the government hasn’t provided sufficient PPE. Its failure is rooted in applying the ‘market’ to healthcare. The idea of having stocks of items is looked upon like an unnecessary cost to a business. As a bus driver, I know that repairs of vehicles that are deemed as non-essential are often delayed because of the lack of stock. ‘Just in time’ practices reduce cost but it is not necessarily efficient.
The delay and continuing shortage of appropriate PPE is a failure of planning and toying with the idea of herd immunity. I recall Johnson’s initial response to the pandemic. We must be honest with the public, he said, “many of your loved ones will die’”. That comment speaks volumes about the Tories.
