NHS workers from five hospitals stage protest over lacks of testing and safety equipment

By Lottie Kilraine and Toby Porter 

NHS workers at five hospitals held a protest on Tuesday as frustrations grow over lack of testing and safety equipment.

Medics also held a one-minute silent vigil for colleagues killed by coronavirus on the day which coincided with Workers’ Memorial Day.

Doctors and nurses at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust then staged a protest on Waterloo Bridge, while those at St George’s Hospital, Tooting and Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust also showed their increasing frustration at government guarantees which have fallen short on delivery.

The socially-distanced protest aimed to raise awareness of the sacrifices made by front line workers – and demanded the government secures proper PPE, testing and tracing for all key workers.

Dave Carr, an Intensive Care Unit nurse at St Thomas’, said: “For us, PPE means going into a safe environment, protected from this virus. Without it, we don’t know if we are going to catch a deadly disease that could kill you or members of your family.

“This is just absolutely unacceptable. The anger among health workers has been brewing. Health and social care don’t have the right PPE.”

Public Health England caused outrage by telling medics to reduce the level of the PPE they used in March.

NHS workers were released from work to attend the rally but Unite the union stressed patients were not abandoned and continued to receive care.

Mark Boothroyd, branch secretary for Unite at St Thomas’ hospital, said: “The government has not put in enough infrastructure to manage the pandemic.

“They don’t have enough testing in place and if they have not invested enough in the NHS capacity then we will just see another surge.

“We can’t do what we have done in the last six weeks again because we are all burnt out and it has placed a massive strain on our resources.

“We want more focusing on the sacrifices people have made and we want the government to commit to better PPE for the staff.

“No one should have died from contracting this virus at work.

“There hasn’t been many sick nurses and doctors from ICU because they have the best PPE. If the government had got everyone the same level of PPE then a lot of these deaths could have been avoided.”

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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We are working around the clock to ensure PPE is delivered as quickly as possible to those on the front line during this global pandemic for as long as it is required.

“The UK PPE guidance was developed with NHS leaders in consultation with royal and medical colleges and recommends the safest level of PPE, following WHO advice.

“We have delivered more than 1 billion items since the outbreak began and there is a 24-hour NHS-run helpline where NHS and social care workers can call to report shortages in supply.”