Mansfield care firm's urgent warning about PPE shortages

The government has given care companies across the country 300 disposable face masks each but told them that they will have to source future supplies from the private sector.

“We have so far invested nearly £18,000 in personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep people safe,” said care director Tracey Poole, of Premier Care, a social care agency that covers Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

“But we service 11,000 visits a week with approximately 400 staff helping 650 service users.

“The new guidance makes it unrealistic to maintain across health and social care, if we do not get support in obtaining PPE.

“We are a large agency in this sector and we do have the cash flow, at present, to invest in sourcing and purchasing PPE – if and when its available. Some agencies won’t have that, some agencies following government guidelines will run out of PPE. What then?

“How can we support the NHS to discharge people from hospitals? How can we support the NHS to free beds for the critically ill? How can we support the NHS by caring for people with COVID-19 with mild symptoms at home to free up beds?

“We need to keep health and social care heroes safe. We need to care for vulnerable people at home. We cannot do this without PPE.”

The firm, based on Millennium Business Park, provides home visits for elderly people across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Tracey, 57, of Bolsover, says she has seen prices for masks shoot up from £1.70 for 100 disposable masks to £10.04.

“We didn’t buy those,” she said. “A lot of companies have stayed within their normal prices ranges.

“But even if you have got the money, you can’t always get hold of them.

“Because we're not testing in the community, we’re going to people that are suspected to have Covid-19, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with – so we must wear PPE.

“There is a lot of positive talk – but there’s nothing actually materialising. We need to get these things in place.”

Public Health England (PHE) last week issued updated guidance on what PPE staff should wear following weeks of confusion.

Doctors, nurses and carers were told to wear protective masks if they come within two metres of anyone who could have coronavirus.

Health leaders welcomed the move but said ‘unacceptable’ shortages of equipment means doctors and nurses will still have to risk their lives to treat patients.

A British Medical Association poll revealed that just 12 per cent of 1,124 hospital doctors surveyed said they felt fully protected from the virus at work.

It also revealed that 27 per cent reported their NHS trust was running low on basic supplies such as soap.

More than half (54 per cent) of doctors working in high-risk environments said there were either shortages or no supply at all of adequate face masks.

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