Coronavirus: Army to distribute protective equipment to frontline NHS staff

Health secretary says people who are ignoring social distancing advice are being ‘selfish’

The armed forces are being drafted in to help manage and distribute supplies of protective equipment to frontline NHS staff battling the coronavirus pandemic.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has admitted there have been “challenges” with the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) but insisted he was taking the issue “very seriously”.

The health secretary spoke on Monday following a letter in The Sunday Times from almost 4,000 NHS workers who called on Boris Johnson, the prime minister, to resolve an “unacceptable” shortage of equipment.

The group warned many medical workers were “putting their lives on the line every day” by treating coronavirus patients without appropriate protection and called for an adequate supply of masks, safety glasses, gloves, aprons and protective suits.

NHS England said millions more items of PPE had been delivered over the last few days to frontline staff.

It added that the army would offer personnel to “help manage and offload supplies in busy NHS settings” and distribute PPE supplies to the frontline from this week.

The Doctors' Association, a lobbying group for healthcare workers, warned last week that not having the correct protective equipment would put patients at risk.

"I am determined to ensure that the right kit gets to the right hospital, the right ambulance service, the right doctors' surgery, right across the country," Mr Hancock told the BBC.

"There have been challenges and I can see that. We're on it and trying to solve all the problems."

On Monday morning, the health secretary added that people who were not following government advice to stay at home and avoid nonessential social contact were being “selfish”.

When asked why some people were ignoring the advice, Mr Hancock said: “Well I don’t know, because it’s very selfish.

“If people go within two metres of others who they don’t live with then they are helping to spread the virus and the consequence of that costs lives.”

There has been increased pressure on the supply chain for PPE in recent weeks, in part due to the manufacturing slowdown in China due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the NHS said.

Emily Lawson, chief commercial officer for the NHS, said health workers needed a "massively increased, urgent volume of these supplies" to frontline staff.

As of 9am on Sunday, 281 people had died in the UK after testing positive for Covid-19, while 5,683 people had tested positive for the coronavirus.