A BBC documentary last night claimed ministers counted every glove individually instead of in pairs to boast of delivering one billion bits of PPE to NHS staff frontline in their fight against the coronavirus – as yet another minister suffered a shambolic round of interviews today.
The Panorama investigation said Number 10 had failed to procure enough protective equipment, such as masks, gowns and visors.
It also accused ministers of counting 547million gloves individually, instead of as 273.5million pairs, to fiddle PPE numbers.
The one billion figure also included items which are not considered PPE, including millions of cleaning products, waste bags, detergents and paper towels.
Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan called the PPE scandal unveiled by Panorama a ‘national disgrace’ and accused Safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins of laughing when he was interviewing her.
It comes as Matt Hancock was confronted this morning by the son of a doctor who had warned the government about a lack of PPE for NHS staff before he died of coronavirus.
Intisar Chowdhury, the son of Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, accused the Health Secretary of ‘ignoring’ his father’s plea for more vital protective equipment.
Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan called the PPE scandal unveiled by Panorama a ‘national disgrace’ and accused Safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins of laughing
HEALTH SECRETARY IS CONFRONTED BY SON OF A DOCTOR WHO DIED OF COVID-19
Intisar Chowdhury, the son of Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury (pictured), accused the Health Secretary of ‘ignoring’ his father’s plea for more vital protective equipment
Matt Hancock was confronted this morning by the son of a doctor who had warned the government about a lack of PPE for NHS staff before he died of coronavirus.
Intisar Chowdhury, the son of Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, accused the Health Secretary of ‘ignoring’ his father’s plea for more vital protective equipment.
Mr Chowdhury urged Mr Hancock to apologise and to ‘openly acknowledge there have been mistakes in handling this virus’.
Mr Hancock insisted the government ‘took very, very seriously what your father said’ and ministers have been ‘working round the clock’ to make sure frontline staff have the right kit to keep them safe.
Mr Hancock was appearing on an LBC Radio phone-in and had begun to take questions from members of the public when Mr Chowdhury challenged him.
Mr Chowdhury asked Mr Hancock: ‘When he was unwell he wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister appealing for more PPE for NHS frontline workers, it was a request that was ignored, two weeks later he passed away and since then over 100 NHS and social care workers have passed away from contracting the virus.
‘Do you regret not taking my dad’s concerns, my 11-year-old sister dad’s concerns and my wife’s husband’s concerns seriously enough for my dad that we’ve all lost?’
The Health Secretary replied: ‘Intisar, I’m really sorry about your dad’s death and I have seen the comments you’ve made and what you’ve said in public and I think it’s very brave of you to be speaking out in public.
‘We took very very seriously what your father said and we’ve been working around the clock to ensure that there’s enough protective equipment and in the case of anybody who works in the NHS or in social care and has died from coronavirus we look into it in each case to find out the reasons where they might have caught it and what lessons we can learn.’
Morgan asked Ms Atkins why the UK had downgraded Covid-19 from HCID, which is the high consequence infectious category.
The minister then appeared to smirk and said: ‘I am not a scientist Piers.’
He interjected: ‘Well you can laugh. I don’t know why you all keeping laughing when I talk about this. It’s not funny is it? Look you just laughed again.’
Ms Atkins said: ‘Piers, no its not and I know you accused another colleague of mine laughing and I was not laughing.’
Morgan shot back: ‘These are not trivial matters minister let me explain why. By every criteria HCID fits the bill. It’s the biggest public health crisis this country has faced in 100 years.’
He then accused the minister of downgrading the virus so they didn’t have a legal obligation to give health workers ‘the right amount of PPE kit.’
He added that Ms Atkins appeared to know ‘nothing’ about why the decision was taken to downgrade Covid-19.
Ms Atkins responded that she was on the programme to talk about the domestic abuse bill, and that the government is ‘following the scientific advice.’
She later appeared on BBC Breakfast and did not deny the claims on BBC Breakfast this morning, and said she would not be ‘drawn into the detail of these figures’.
She told BBC Breakfast that she had a box of gloves and they were not badged up as being in pairs, although said she was ‘not going to be drawn into the detail of these figures’.
But Ms Atkins said: ‘We have been very transparent about figures throughout and we have got to keep with transparency because that is how we keep people’s trust.’
‘I’m very, very sorry to hear of that report.’
It comes as a shocking poll by the Royal College of Physicians yesterday found that a quarter of doctors are having to re-use protective kit meant to be worn just once.
The college’s leader said the survey revealed a ‘terrible state of affairs’ and – in a further blow to the Government – an investigation found that officials failed to buy enough gowns when setting up an emergency stockpile in 2009.
Ministers are also accused of ignoring a warning last June that they would need to purchase more.
The protective clothes should be worn only once because washing them at temperatures high enough to kill coronavirus weakens their effectiveness.
The BBC Panorama investigation, which was screened last night and is available on iPlayer, found the Government failed to stockpile enough gowns, visors and swabs needed for testing.
Ministers apparently then ignored a warning last summer from experts on the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group that they should buy additional gowns.
A shocking poll by the Royal College of Physicians found that a quarter of doctors are having to re-use protective kit meant to be worn just once (file photo)
The failure to provide enough PPE to hospitals and care homes has been one of the biggest issues in the pandemic
The shortages are affecting care homes as well. James Bullion, of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, told the BBC’s World at One: ‘It’s been promised for some weeks and not arrived.’
Chris Hopson of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said: ‘It will be important – when the time comes for a public inquiry – to examine why the pandemic stockpile was not configured for an epidemic like the one we face today.’
A Royal College’s survey – completed by 2,129 members – also highlighted concerns that protective equipment was poorly fitting.
Nearly a third – 31 per cent – said they had not had their facemasks ‘fit tested’ to ensure they provided maximum protection.
Just 69 per cent said they were always able to access the vital long-sleeved gowns. The figure for goggles was even lower at 50 per cent.
Overall 27 per cent said they could not get the equipment they needed, which was up from 22 per cent when the college carried out the same survey three weeks ago.
Some 27 per cent of doctors were re-using their personal protective equipment or had done so.
Its president, Professor Andrew Goddard, said: ‘Many personal protective equipment items are designed for single use and should only be re-used in extreme circumstances.
‘That so many people are having to re-use PPE shows how desperate the shortages are.
‘This is a truly terrible state of affairs. As a bare minimum we expect our health service to provide the equipment we need to protect ourselves and our patients.’
The number of new cases continued to rise in the latest data, but the rate has slowed significantly