Furious doctors have warned they might be forced to stop treating patients as ministers admitted tonight that a crucial consignment of personal protective equipment has failed to arrive from Turkey.
Medical associations have warned that their members face difficult choices about exposing themselves and other patients to risk of infection, with fears that supplies of critical items are running low in hospitals.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he ‘hoped’ the 84 tonnes of kit from Turkey would now be in the UK tomorrow, despite it having been announced with fanfare by Cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick last night.
But appearing alongside Mr Williamson at the daily Downing Street briefing, deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries complained that critics are not being ‘adult’ about the problems with PPE.
She urged people to reflect on what had been ‘achieved’ in maintaining levels of equipment amid global pressures, and insisted the UK was an ‘international exemplar in preparedness’.
Dr Harries also played down concerns about revised guidance that some pieces of protective kit should be re-used, urging health workers to ‘implement’ the rules as effectively as possible.
The comments could inflame tensions with medical staff with the NHS Confederation joining the groups backing staff who refuse to treat patients unless they have adequate PPE, such as gowns, goggles and masks.
The Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Nurses and Midwives, and the British Medical Association have also raised serious concerns.