'Sort out gowns shortage at Mid Yorkshire hospitals urgently', Yvette Cooper MP tells government

Yvette Cooper has suggested there is a chronic shortage of protective gowns for frontline NHS staff, despite government claims to the contrary.
Pinderfields HospitalPinderfields Hospital
Pinderfields Hospital

The Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP said she'd spoken to nurses and managers at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust and has called on ministers to sort the problem urgently.

Staff at the trust, which runs Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury Hospitals, have received widespread praise for keeping the healthcare system going during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But there are fears they are not being adequately protected against the virus.

Ms Cooper said she'd spoken to frontline NHS staff at the trust about the issue.Ms Cooper said she'd spoken to frontline NHS staff at the trust about the issue.
Ms Cooper said she'd spoken to frontline NHS staff at the trust about the issue.

Ms Cooper's comments follow an intervention from the Royal College of Nursing over the Easter weekend. They said nurses should refuse to treat COVID-19 patients "as a last resort" if their personal protective equipment (PPE) was not up to scratch.

The Mid Yorkshire trust has been asked for comment about Ms Cooper's remarks, but is yet to respond.

Speaking on Tuesday, the MP said: "I’ve spoken directly to ministers to urge them to ensure more gowns are urgently delivered to Mid Yorkshire Trust.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"National officials and ministers should not be claiming that there is enough PPE when Yorkshire hospitals have been running out.

"I’ve heard from local nurses as well as hospital managers about the real struggles they are facing.

"The government should be working with more companies across the country, as well as Burberry who volunteered help, to urgently increase supplies.

"When medical staff and support staff are doing so much for others, the least everyone else can do is make sure they have the protection they need."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In an interview at the end of last month, the Mid Yorkshire trust's chief executive Martin Barkley said supplies of masks and protective gear had fallen to "concerningly low" levels days before.

On that occasion, the Department of Health stepped up the speed of deliveries, but the number of COVID-19 patients now being treated by the trust has risen considerably since then.

Local Democracy Reporting Service