NHS staff 'gagged' over coronavirus shortages

NHS staff are being gagged from speaking out about widespread shortages of personal protective equipment that they fear could risk their lives from the coronavirus, frontline medics claim.

Related: Protective equipment being diverted from care homes to hospitals, say bosses

Doctors and nurses are being warned by hospitals and other NHS bodies not to raise their concerns publicly, according to a dossier of evidence collated by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK).

Tactics being used to deter staff from voicing their unease include “threatening” emails, the possibility of disciplinary action and in two cases being sent home from work. Some doctors have been given a ticking-off after managers were irritated by material they had posted on social media.

“Doctors across the frontlines are extremely concerned about the lack of personal protective equipment [PPE]. Many have told us they have tried to raise concerns through the proper channels but have been warned against taking these concerns further,” said Dr Samantha Batt Rawden, DAUK’s president.

“At this time when we desperately need every single doctor on the frontline, some have had their careers threatened, and at least two doctors have been sent home from work. This is unacceptable. Doctors have a moral duty to make their concerns regarding Covid-19 public if these cannot be resolved locally,” she added.

The NHS organisations involved appear to want to stop staff from highlighting the lack of facemasks, goggles, visors and gowns that has created huge alarm and fear at the frontline. Many health professionals are worried that they may contract the virus during the course of their work, especially if their PPE is inadequate, and pass it on to patients or their families.

In recent weeks staff have posted photographs on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram of makeshift PPE they have put together using materials such as bin bags.

Related: James McAvoy donates £275,000 to NHS medics’ PPE crowdfunding appeal

For example, A&E staff at Southend hospital in Essex have been warned that they could face disciplinary action if they raise the issue of PPE publicly.

In a memo on 26 March they were told: “The posting of inappropriate social media commentary or the posting of photographs of staff in uniform who are not complying with IPC [infection prevention and control] standards and social distancing requirements is unacceptable. Such behaviour will be considered under the disciplinary policy.

“Now, perhaps more than ever, NHS staff are in the public eye and we have a responsibility to convey a professional image and to role model positive messages about social distancing. It would be very sad for moments of inappropriate or unprofessional behaviour to undermine the respect that we and our colleagues have from the public.”

Ministers and NHS bosses have organised thousands of deliveries of millions of pieces of PPE to hospitals, GP surgeries and other healthcare settings in England over the last 10 days, often with army drivers bringing it. However, many staff still report ongoing shortages.

In other testimonies given to DAUK:

• An intensive care doctor who voiced unease about facemasks was told by their hospital that “if we hear of these concerns going outside these four walls your career and your position here will be untenable”.

• Another intensive care specialist was called into a meeting with their bosses and disciplined after raising concerns.

• A GP working at Chase Farm hospital in London was sent home for voicing unease.

• A consultant paediatrician in Yorkshire was told in an email from their hospital that their social media output was being monitored and they should be careful.

• A GP who appealed to her community on social media for more supplies of PPE was then barred by her local NHS clinical commissioning group from speaking out. “I was being warned I wasn’t toeing the party line,” she said.

Helen O Connor, an organiser with the GMB union, said: “Just as it seemed that the widespread and dangerous culture of gagging clauses and suppressing the voices of NHS workers might be coming to an end it is now intensifying.

“It is scandalous that hospital staff speaking out publicly face being sacked by ruthless NHS bosses who do not want failings in their leadership to be exposed. Suppression of information is not just a matter of democracy, it is now a major public health issue.”

NHS England pointed out that staff were continuing to speak to the media about Covid-19.

An NHS spokesperson said: “Once a major incidents occurs it is vital that the public receive fast, authoritative, open, clear and consistent information from their NHS, which is why, in line with longstanding emergency preparedness, resilience and response protocols, official communications are therefore always coordinated nationally.

“But staff continue to speak in a personal, trade union or professional body capacity, and it is self-evident from print and broadcast media coverage throughout this incident that staff are able and do in fact speak freely.”

The British Medical Association, the main doctors’ trade union, on Tuesday called on Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, to clarify what NHS staff who felt they did not have the right PPE for dealing with Covid-19 patients should do, given his comment that “we cannot and should not ask healthcare workers to be on the frontline without appropriate protective equipment”.