Evaluating the national PPE guidance for NHS healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tragically, many of the infections and deaths recorded in the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have occurred in healthcare workers. Some have attributed this to inadequate provision of personal protective equipment (PPE). In the UK, several organisations have voiced their concerns...

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Published inClinical medicine (London, England) Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 242 - 247
Main Authors Thomas, John P, Srinivasan, Anand, Wickramarachchi, Chandu S, Dhesi, Parveen K, Hung, Yat MA, Kamath, Ajay V
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2020
Royal College of Physicians
Subjects
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 rapid report
Masks
NHS
pandemic
Personal protective equipment
SARS-CoV-2
Viral infections
United Kingdom > UK
Italy
COVID-19
NHS
SARS-CoV-2
personal protective equipment
pandemic
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Summary:Tragically, many of the infections and deaths recorded in the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have occurred in healthcare workers. Some have attributed this to inadequate provision of personal protective equipment (PPE). In the UK, several organisations have voiced their concerns that the national PPE guidance issued by Public Health England is inadequate. Despite recent revisions to these guidelines, concerns remain that they offer insufficient protection to frontline NHS healthcare workers. In this report, we evaluate whether these concerns are merited, through critical appraisal of the available evidence, review of international PPE guidance, and consideration of the ethical implications.
ISSN:1470-2118
1473-4893
DOI:10.7861/clinmed.2020-0143