NHS workers in PPE attend to a patient at St Thomas’ Hospital (Picture: Getty)

Nurses are being urged to refuse to treat patients as a ‘last resort’ if they are not given adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).

The advice from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) comes as the UK death toll approached 10,000, and NHS trusts confirmed the deaths of more health workers from coronavirus.

Among the latest health workers to die during the outbreak were Sara Trollope, a matron for older adult mental health services in Hillingdon, west London, and Julie Omar, 52, a trauma and orthopaedics nurse at Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, in Worcestershire, who died at home while self-isolating with symptoms.

In a bid to prevent further frontline deaths, the RCN issued new guidance, which says if sufficient PPE cannot be supplied and treatment cannot be delayed or carried out in another format, nurses should decline to work.


NHS nurses wait for the next patient at a drive through Coronavirus testing site in a car park in Wolverhampton (Picture: Getty)

A spokesman said: ‘For nursing staff, this will go against every instinct. But their safety must not be compromised.’



The RCN said it would provide legal assistance to those making what it acknowledged was an ‘enormously difficult decision’ and warned them that they could face criminal prosecution for corporate manslaughter in ‘very rare’ cases for walking away.

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The representative body issued a seven-point safety plan for nurses to follow, with step six saying: ‘Ultimately, if you have exhausted all other measures to reduce the risk and you have not been given appropriate PPE in line with the UK Infection Prevention and Control guidance, you are entitled to refuse to work.

‘This will be a last resort and the RCN recognises what a difficult step this would be for nursing staff.’

The RCN recommends those choosing to withdraw care should keep written justifications of their decisions and told nurses to brace for attempts to sack them, claims of clinical negligence, and possibly facing criticism at inquests or even criminal charges.

Practice Nurse Liz Corrigan of Wolverhampton NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, wearing PPE of gloves, eye protection, a face mask and an apron, poses with an official novel coronavirus COVID-19 testing kit (Picture: AFP)

On Saturday, the Department of Health said a total of 9,875 people had died in hospital in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus as of 5pm on Friday, up by 917 from the same point on Thursday.

There was renewed political pressure placed on the Government after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded ‘urgent talks’ with Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg to ensure ministers could be probed in Parliament over their handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

He said there must be a way for MPs to ask questions of ministers after the Easter recess, due to end on April 21, even if it is via webcam.

Sir Keir, in a letter to Mr Rees-Mogg, said ‘answers are needed’ on matters such as PPE and the exit strategy from the lockdown currently imposed on the UK.

Ministers have so far ruled out giving a date when the restrictions on movement and social contact will be lifted, with Mr Hancock and Ms Patel stressing the need for people to remain at home even during the fine Easter weekend weather.

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