All doctors and nurses should now wear an apron, gloves, mask and goggles every time they come within two metres of people who might have the coronavirus.
And all healthcare workers working in or out of a hospital should wear a mask if there’s a possibility they’re close to someone who might have COVID-19.
Public Health England today upgraded its advice for medical workers to tell them to wear more protective gear.
The rule applies to all healthcare staff who work in hospitals, GP surgeries or in the community and to anyone who comes within 6’6″ (2m) of suspected or confirmed cases.
It added that staff should wear the same goggles or masks all day if they can – ‘as long as it is safe to do’, PHE said.
The new guidance is stricter than it had been so far in the outbreak. Before today’s announcement, this level of protection was only needed for staff working on wards with patients who were confirmed to have the disease.
But now medical staff at all levels of care – from hospitals to at-home carers – should protect themselves even if a patient only has possible symptoms.
The British Medical Association has today launched a campaign to urge the Government to send more protective gear to the NHS frontline amid complaints there isn’t enough go around.
And GP practices say that, when they’ve appealed for equipment from the NHS, they have been told to buy their own from other suppliers.
A paramedic in London is pictured wearing the full protective equipment that Public Health England is now mandating for all health workers to wear if they go near patients with suspected COVID-19. This man is wearing a gown rather than an apron
Hospital staff must all wear a mask of some kind if they are near someone who might have the coronavirus or would be especially vulnerable if they caught it, new guidance announced today rules
Today’s update from Public Health England reads: ‘Any clinician working in a hospital, primary care or community care setting within two metres of a suspected or confirmed coronavirus COVID-19 patient should wear an apron, gloves, surgical mask and eye protection, based on the risk.
‘In some circumstances PPE, particularly masks and eye protection which is there to protect the health and care worker can be worn for an entire session and doesn’t need to be changed between patients, as long as it is safe to do so.’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in today’s Government briefing that the NHS was shipping a ‘record quantity’ of protective equipment.
He said that, yesterday alone, 45million pieces of equipment were delivered to hospitals with the help of the military, including 6million masks and 5million aprons.
Older health guidance had told medics they only needed aprons, gloves and eye protections if they were working on wards with patients who already had COVID-19. It has been tightened to mandate full-body protection even for those with suspected patients
Any staff coming into contact with suspected or definite COVID-19 cases must wear a mask, gloves and an apron, PHE says
The PHE guidance said that paramedics and GPs should all also wear masks if they are dealing with people who have suspected or confirmed coronavirus.
This includes those working in care homes, in patients’ own houses, or in public.
Ambulance drivers who don’t come face-to-face with a patient do not need to wear a mask.
And health or social care workers who cannot accurately assess whether a patient might have COVID-19 should err on the side of caution and wear the protection.
The upgraded rules will reduce the spread of the infection, officials say, by making it less likely that droplets carrying the virus can enter the bodies of NHS staff.
Medical director for PHE, Dr Yvonne Doyle, said: ‘Protecting our NHS colleagues on the frontline is vitally important.
‘This updated guidance provides a greater degree of clarity so that NHS clinicians caring for patients feel confident in the PPE they need to wear.
‘Our standards are among the highest in the world and in line with what WHO recommends in circumstances and settings with the highest risk transmission.’
The new guidance comes amid ongoing anger from NHS doctors that they aren’t getting sent enough protective gear by the Government.
The British Medical Association today launched a campaign urging authorities to provide more the equipment, crucially masks, for staff to work safely.
Some staff said they have seen colleagues fall ill because of ‘inadequate PPE’ and others are having to buy their own.
One doctor revealed to their MP, Twickenham member Munira Wilson, that they had bought motocross goggles for their staff to wear.
And GPs in surgeries told the trade magazine Pulse that, when they rang the NHS’s emergency helpline for access to extra supplies, they had been told to buy their own protective equipment from their usual wholesalers.
Editor of the British Medical Journal, which is part of the BMA’s campaign for more equipment, Dr Fiona Godlee, said: ‘For healthcare staff on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic, work has suddenly become a frightening place.
‘There is real and justified fear about personal safety, fuelled by a scandalous lack of personal protective equipment.’