Some hospitals facing gown shortages, health boss says

Some hospital staff are facing a “hand-to-mouth” supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) due to hold-ups in China, the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, a health boss has said.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers in England which represents hospital trusts, said the number of gowns available to staff in some parts of the country was “very, very low”.

It came as the official coronavirus death toll in the UK passed 10,000, with the country entering a fourth week in lockdown.

Some frontline staff have cited a chronic shortage of PPE, such as masks, since the pandemic took hold.

Mr Hopson acknowledged there were some supply issues affecting staff, with the vast majority of gowns being imported from China.

He said the NHS ordered “a whole load of stock” weeks ago, but delays have been caused by the product sometimes failing safety tests, while other batches have been mislabelled – meaning the NHS has ended up with additional masks.

He told BBC Breakfast: “If everything had been flowing exactly as had been ordered and if all of the material had properly passed its safety test, there would not be an issue.

“This is all really hand-to-mouth in terms of gown delivery, and we need to get to a more sustainable supply.”

Mr Hopson said those trusts with a surplus were being asked to share their supplies with neighbouring trusts, while alternative gowns were being sourced from elsewhere.

Emergency supplies have also been delivered to those most in demand, Mr Hopson said.

He said: “The NHS has had about 10 weeks to prepare and actually the vast majority of preparations have gone extremely well.

“There is a range of personal protective equipment that needs to be delivered at the front line… nearly all of that material is flowing in the way that trusts would like.

“The bit where there’s a particular problem was gowns, where we know that over the last 72 hours some trusts have run critically low on gowns.

“No trust, as far as I’m aware, has actually run out but some of the stocks are very, very low.”