Huge effort to supply protective equipment but gaps remain

Commenting on the latest developments on personal protective equipment (PPE), NHS Providers chief executive, Chris Hopson, said:

"The public debate about PPE is in danger of getting stuck.

"The government is publicly quoting ever growing figures of how many millions of pieces of PPE are being delivered to the frontline.

"Frontline staff, and those representing them, are pointing with increasing frustration to multiple instances of PPE not being available when required.

"The reality is that both are right.

"There is a huge NHS effort to supply PPE to the frontline but gaps remain.

"It would help if those gaps were publicly acknowledged and the reasons for them more clearly set out.

"It would also help if the work the NHS is doing to fill these gaps, overcoming major constraints along the way, was better understood."

We need a sustainable supply of gowns as soon as possible 

On the specific concerns over supplies of gowns, Chris Hopson, said:

"Trust leaders report that, for most items of PPE, recent efforts to improve distribution to them have worked well and are a significant improvement compared to a month ago.

"However, there are gaps and over the last 72 hours an increasing number of trusts have reported critically low levels of gowns.

"The NHS has mobilised accordingly to address this problem using three different approaches.

"First, talking to trusts yesterday and this morning many, but not all, of those facing shortages received vital overnight emergency deliveries of most of the last remaining national reserve stock of gowns. For some, this was literally just in time.

"Second, trusts are also providing mutual aid to neighbouring providers to ensure gown stock is shared appropriately wherever possible. This mutual aid is a key benefit of being in a National Health Service.

"Third, Public Health England approved the use of coveralls in place of gowns two days ago and we understand there is a consignment of 200,000 coveralls due for release shortly. This consignment has been successfully tested for use by HSE.

"But these are last minute actions to prevent gown stock from running out and the stock position for a number of trusts still currently looks precarious.

"We understand that more gowns are scheduled to arrive shortly but, we need to move from hand to mouth to a more stable and sustainable approach as soon as possible."