An A&E doctor has urged other frontline healthcare workers to speak up about the risks they are facing from lack of adequate protective equipment and the government’s decision to not test even symptomatic NHS workers.

Nishant Joshi, who works at Luton and Dunstable general hospital, said “everyone is scared to speak up publicly” but he wanted to highlight the government’s “chaotic” guidelines for healthcare workers on the front line of the crisis.

Chief among them, he said, was the total lack of protective clothing for doctors and nurses. As a doctor in A&E, he had volunteered to treat patients with suspected Covid-19, and had been doing so in a full protective suit. But now he said, staff had only the “bare basics”. He was at pains to point out this was not the fault of the hospital management but government policy.

“I’m treating patients who are perhaps presenting for a broken ankle and they suddenly start coughing all over you. You’re breathing in an aerosol spray of droplets and we’re not even wearing a mask – just scrubs and a plastic apron.”

He said that he had escalated his concerns to hospital management and they were doing their best to address them, but he added: “So many of my friends are doctors, nurses and healthcare workers on the frontline. We are all prepared to do that. But it’s not going to just be a question of sacrificing ourselves, it’s the risk we pose to everyone we come into contact with which includes some of the most vulnerable people in Britain?

Quick guide What to do if you have coronavirus symptoms in the UK Show Hide Symptoms are defined by the NHS as either: a high temperature - you feel hot to touch on your chest or back

a new continuous cough - this means you've started coughing repeatedly NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days.

If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home. After 14 days, anyone you live with who does not have symptoms can return to their normal routine. But, if anyone in your home gets symptoms, they should stay at home for 7 days from the day their symptoms start. Even if it means they're at home for longer than 14 days. If you live with someone who is 70 or over, has a long-term condition, is pregnant or has a weakened immune system, try to find somewhere else for them to stay for 14 days. If you have to stay at home together, try to keep away from each other as much as possible. After 7 days, if you no longer have a high temperature you can return to your normal routine. If you still have a high temperature, stay at home until your temperature returns to normal. If you still have a cough after 7 days, but your temperature is normal, you do not need to continue staying at home. A cough can last for several weeks after the infection has gone.

Staying at home means you should: not go to work, school or public areas

not use public transport or taxis

not have visitors, such as friends and family, in your home

not go out to buy food or collect medicine – order them by phone or online, or ask someone else to drop them off at your home You can use your garden, if you have one. You can also leave the house to exercise – but stay at least 2 metres away from other people. If you have symptoms of coronavirus, use the NHS 111 coronavirus service to find out what to do. Source: NHS England on 23 March 2020

“And what happens to the healthcare system if we all get ill? Everyone is scared to speak up publicly, and it’s possible I could lose my job for doing so, but it’s like the moment in the disaster movie when the tide has gone out and everyone is saying, ‘Oh let’s go to the beach’, and you’re jumping up and down saying, ‘No, run for the hills.”

Joshi said his wife, who is also a doctor at another UK hospital and is pregnant, was exposed to a patient who was subsequently confirmed to have the virus. “But she can’t get tested. This patient had been on an open ward for a whole day. How many nurses and healthcare assistants were exposed? But the strategy is now not to test. The only guidance is to see if you develop symptoms and then self-isolate for seven days.

“And then you’re supposed to return to work on the eighth day but without even knowing if you’ve had it or not or if there’s still a risk you might infect others. And how is the government even going to track it if it doesn’t have figures?”

Britain must change course – and resume Covid-19 testing to protect frontline NHS staff | Devi Sridhar Read more

As the director of the WHO urged countries to “test, test, test” and a junior doctor launched an online petition that has already been signed by more than 50,000 people asking the government to introduce testing for NHS workers, Joshi said it was the lack of explanation of the government’s logic that was particularly troubling.

“It just makes no sense to any of us. The WHO has been absolutely clear in its guidelines. It says testing and then contact tracing is absolutely key. Yet, the government is not even testing those of us who are being exposed in the course of our work fighting this on the frontline.”