NHS staff have been told 140,000 gowns arrived from Myanmar today - as hospitals fear they are running out.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the Government would "pursue every possible option" to secure personal protective equipment (PPE) for the UK.

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A medical worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) at the back of an ambulance outside Lewisham hospital in London Credit: Reuters

Speaking at today's Downing Street press briefing, Mr Sunak said: "This is an international challenge that many other countries are experiencing.

"Alongside the efforts of British businesses, and our embassies around the world, we are working hard to get the PPE our frontline NHS and social care staff need."

He insisted there were regular shipments despite the "unexpected delays" to a consignment of PPE due to arrive today from Turkey.

"Today we unloaded a shipment of 140,000 gowns from Myanmar," he said.

"We are, of course, continuing to pursue every possible option for PPE procurement."

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Public Health England head Professor Yvonne Doyle said a lack of PPE "is a concern" but insisted officials are "working very hard" to improve the situation.

She said: "Obviously we want people who are working on the front line with patients at high risk to have what they need.

"Over this weekend I know, for instance, that 12 million pieces have been delivered to 141 trusts and as has been said there is incredible work going on internationally in a very high burn rate situation.

"A difficult situation undoubtedly, working very hard to make it better and trying to make sure we can deliver to where it's most needed."

Over this weekend 12 million pieces have been delivered to 141 trusts and there is incredible work going on internationally Professor Yvonne Doyle

Asked whether PPE guidance had been downgraded based on availability of equipment rather than safety standards, Prof Doyle said: "The guidance remains exactly the same.

"What has happened over the weekend is to cover people really and given them some security in exceptional circumstances, advice has been produced jointly with the NHS about how to be safe in circumstances where supplies may be at risk.

"And that is a very precautionary set of advice - it's quite the opposite to putting people at risk because there aren't enough supplies.

"It's trying to ensure that people are well secured and safe when there may not be enough supplies, and it also stresses how important it is not to take risks and when it is not right to do certain things and practices with the PPE."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said tonight: “We’re working night and day to get PPE to where it is needed on the frontline of this battle against this virus.

“We continue to receive regular deliveries from suppliers around the world as well as working with companies in the UK to scale up the home grown manufacture of PPE.

“During this global pandemic there has been unprecedented demand for PPE and, whilst we have been frank about the challenges this creates, we are doing everything in our power to meet demand.”



'Low confidence'

It comes as organisations representing hospital trusts have rounded on the Government over its promise of more PPE.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said there was "relatively low confidence" that the shipment of 400,000 surgical gowns from Turkey would make its way into the country today.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said 140,000 gowns arrived from Myanmar today Credit: AFP

He said trusts are being forced into "hand-to-mouth" workarounds, including washing single-use gowns and restricting stocks to key areas.

The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across healthcare, has also reacted angrily to Government promises of more PPE, saying delays on the shipment from Turkey "makes a difficult situation worse".

Its chief executive, Niall Dickson, said: "It would have been better had the Government not made the announcement in the first place" and said staff would need to make their own assessment over whether they felt safe with the PPE currently on offer.

The Royal Air Force is on standby to bring the delayed shipment of medical gowns from Turkey to the UK following "some unexpected delays" over the weekend, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

Amid suggestions that health staff could refuse to treat patients if they were not properly protected, the spokesman said: "It's our job as a Government to ensure that frontline healthcare staff are protected as much and as appropriately as possible and that they feel safe.

"We are working around the clock to ensure enough supply is reaching the front line."

Mr Hopson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it was wrong to focus on individual consignments of PPE because "bitter experience over the last few weeks" has shown they cannot be relied upon, with some boxes containing the wrong items and thousands of pieces missing.

There's no doubt that at the moment, we have now got trusts that have definitely got shortages of gowns Chris Hopson

"So rather than being marched up to the top of the hill and being marched back down again, let's just focus on what we know we can be certain of," he said.

"Let's not focus on individual consignments, let's try and get as quickly as possible to a sustainable supply of these gowns.

"There's no doubt that at the moment, we have now got trusts that have definitely got shortages of gowns."



'Hand-to-mouth'

Mr Hopson said trusts were reserving the stock of fluid-resistant gowns they do have for areas of high clinical risk, such as intensive care units, and using workarounds in other areas.

"There's one trust that's basically discovered that if you launder those gowns at 60 degrees ... there's probably up to three times that you can do that, and the gowns appear to still be fully fluid-repellent," he said.

He said such as move is not "ideal" and is "really hand-to-mouth".

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While there had been many problems with consignments from abroad failing and the wrong items being sent, Mr Hopson said: "I suppose the question that we will need to ask whether this is over, is actually: was the pandemic stock reserve that was meant to tide us over, was it correctly configured?"

The NHS is thought to use around 150,000 gowns a day, meaning the stock from Turkey would last less than three days.

Palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke said NHS workers and those in social care are being told to wear "skimpy little plastic aprons".

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She added: "They don't cover your arms, and your neck and the top of your chest, they're not covered either.

"That means you're at an increased risk of catching coronavirus and - crucially - at increased risk of spreading it to your patients.

"We are using a pinny essentially - a skimpy, plastic pinny."

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