NURSES at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, north west London, were forced to wear bin bags because of a lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and as a direct result all three have tested POSITIVE for coronavirus!
The three nurses used clinical waste bags on their heads and feet last month due to shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE). More than half of staff on one ward have reportedly contracted the virus and hospital bosses have been blamed for failing to provide them with suitable PPE.
A spokesman for London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Northwick Park Hospital, said: ‘We can confirm that a number of staff members working in our Covid-19 positive areas have tested positive for the coronavirus.’
Adding: ‘This is unfortunate but not unexpected, as it corresponds with the experience of healthcare workers across the world. We are providing full support to those of our staff members who become unwell, and wish them a swift recovery.’
Speaking last month, one of the nurses said they had no choice but to use bin bags because of the shortage of PPE in the hospital.
She said: ‘We could catch the virus ourselves. We need proper PPE kit now, or nurses and doctors are going to die. It’s as simple as that.
‘We’re treating our own colleagues on the ward after they caught the virus from patients. How can that be right? There are so many younger people here on ventilation – many with asthma or diabetes. They can’t stop coughing, they just cough and cough and cough and they can’t help it.’
The Royal College of Nursing warned the lack of PPE in health care settings is ‘fundamentally compromising’ the care being delivered to patients.
Despite repeated assurances that more personal protective equipment (PPE) is on the way, the RCN said that the kit is not reaching the front line.
General secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said: ‘Nurses are still being forced to share equipment, buy their own or reuse kit.’
