NHS staff need better PPE to deal with Covid-19

Some personal protective equipment (PPE) is better than others: the nurse on the left is getting ready to start work in an intensive care unit for Covid-19 patients in a hospital in Rome (Picture: Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images)

Had a couple of days off this week folks, nice to recharge the batteries while patrolling the manor and hitting the daily 10,000 steps target.

Thankfully, I didn’t miss much news, other than the resignation of Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer and the Prime Minister being taken into intensive care – things had been rather quiet on the health front...

A quick check to make sure Germany hadn’t reinvaded the Sudetenland in a rerun of the Second World War and I hunkered down to my brief as top news hound at Hootsman central, reporting live from my Crossgates ‘man cave’.

At one point, it looked like we might lose the PM to coronavirus and he’s still not out the woods – but regular updates from Aunty Beeb told us he was in “good spirits” as opposed to feeling a bit sorry for himself because he was requiring oxygen to breathe. My sources tell me Laura Kuenssberg has been placed on standby to greet Boris as soon as he gets the all clear and is going to present him with a bottle of Shloer white grape juice and a quarter of sports mixtures — the good ones with the black liquorice – on behalf of a grateful nation.

This is what life is like inside one of Scotland's specialist coronavirus intens...

The thought of him dying was a bit overwhelming, not least when you consider the box of doughnuts who’d be left to scrap it out for his spot at Number 10.

Take away Boris and the Tories are a bit like Blondie minus Debbie Harry with Dominic Raab on bass.

The good eggs of Scotland

His faults are many and varied, he’s a cad and a bounder or a “nasty piece of work” as once described famously in an interview by Eddie Mair, which I thought was a bit harsh. But on a purely superficial level, I like his sense of humour and modern-day Flashman persona although I realise, like everyone does, that he’s in it for himself.

Time will tell if he makes the fullest of recoveries and, if he does, it won’t take long for the sniping to start around his handling of the crisis and the delay from first case to lockdown.

It may be that all a rejuvenated Labour need to do to regain power is behave themselves for five years under the leadership of Keir Starmer – but that seems a long time to keep Ed Miliband away from a bacon roll.

Obviously I didn’t want Boris to die as I consider myself a nice person and don’t think I want anyone to die even Donald Trump but we’ll keep that one under review, dear readers.

I thought Nicola Sturgeon did us proud with the get-well message from “all of Scotland” and it made me consider that Scottish people as a whole are good eggs and Twitter is no reflection of the general population.

However, I drew the line at “Clap for Boris” as there was no way he was getting a round of applause just for getting ill. That’s a carry-on stretching into a piece-of-nonsense territory.

Halloween costumes

At this rate we’ll be up and down like a fiddler’s elbow at 8pm every night giving someone or something a clap. At one point they even had the bagpipes oot. Of course I don’t mind a weekly pot banging for the heroes of the NHS and the carers but let’s give them some decent personal protective equipment (PPE) first.

On the subject of PPE which along with testing and modelling are central tropes of the outbreak, why is it that our doctors and nurses look like someone going to a Halloween fancy dress party as a doctor or a nurse?

You could almost replicate their outfit with tissue paper, marigolds and a pair of swimming goggles.

Compared to other countries like Italy and China, for example, there seems to be a severe lack of good PPE doing the rounds, with some healthcare workers taking Chernobyl-type risks to save lives. Not good enough.

At this point I’ll move on to Scotland’s former Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood and the two-homes debacle that led to her resignation.

Before anyone starts rattling their cage, I totally understand that she had to go and her position was untenable.

No mistakes

As open goals go, the Sun newspaper was presented with the easiest of opportunities and there’s no doubt this was in the public interest given Calderwood’s position as the chosen face of the campaign to get us all to stay indoors.

However, I still feel sorry for her on a human level, even as a former tabloid hack, and acknowledge the impact this must be having on her kids. A good person who has helped a lot of people and certainly didn’t ask to be thrust into the public spotlight in this way has come a cropper and no-one benefits.

Things have started to get tricky for the Scottish Government and their handling of the crisis despite widespread praise being heaped on oor Nicola.

The chief nursing officer telling care workers not to wear masks unless the person they’re looking after has symptoms of coronavirus was a bit shabby but we can ill afford another resignation.

You’re not allowed to make mistakes anymore – everyone wants blood and the days of getting a row and apologising are long gone. The stakes are far too high.

Take care and wash yer hands.

NHS staff need better PPE to deal with Covid-19 – Kevan Christie