Quote ="wrencat1873"As you suggest, the "story" that has been fed to us is that "there IS sufficient PPE to go round"'"
I can tell you unequivocally, without any exaggeration and straight from the front line, that this is simply not true. My services were meant to receive an initial allocation of PPE - about half did - the other half didn't, and still haven't. There is an NHS procurement helpline we're supposed to call - it either rings out, or they don't have the equipment to send us - and we are, on a per location basis, looking for fairly modest amounts. It's an absolute joke.
We've solved it ourselves in the end, but at approximately 4 times the usual cost.
Re testing - the DHSC has finally rolled out a pilot of testing sites for SC staff; the roll out happened over Easter Weekend, and I got emails for all 72 of my sites - most of which were directing my staff in say, Nottingham, to go to a testing site in Gateshead - and only under some very prescriptive and complex circumstances. I managed to unpick it this morning and instructed local Managers to book people in for tests - all have thus far been unable to, due to lack of availability.
We are being failed; and as a result, the most vulnerable people in society are being put at extreme risk.
