One in five doctors and nurses has limited and in some cases no access to face masks, raising serious safety concerns as the number of health workers infected with COVID-19 continues to climb.
Peak organisations representing doctors and nurses surveyed their members and found 20 per cent have limited access to personal protective equipment including surgical masks.
Royal Australasian College of Physicians president Professor John Wilson says "it’s not good enough that one in five has limited access to surgical masks". Credit:Eddie Jim
The findings come as the number of active infections in Victorian health workers jumped to nearly 1000 at the weekend, bringing the total number infected since the start of the pandemic to 1725.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which represents 16,000 doctors and 6000 trainees in specialties including respiratory medicine, infectious diseases, geriatrics and public health, said it had "serious concerns for the safety of our members on the front line".
"It’s not good enough that one in five have limited access to surgical masks," president John Wilson said. “Our hospitals must be providing all staff with the PPE they need to do their job safely."
Professor Wilson, who works as a respiratory physician in Melbourne, said 19 per cent of 677 doctors surveyed in public and private settings said they had limited access to surgical masks and 3 per cent said they had no access.
One respondent said they had been chastised by their manager for requesting PPE. "I am in an unsafe working environment and feel unsupported and vulnerable," the doctor said.
Close to half (45 per cent) said they had limited or no access to higher grade N95/P2 masks, with 11 per cent having no access.
One in five doctors in public hospitals said they had to source their own protective equipment.
"This is a troubling warning sign of what may be coming for our medical workforce," Professor Wilson said.
“At a bare minimum, the government must start providing transparent updates on the status of the national stockpile."
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians said access to protective equipment for all health workers needed to be assured and the use of higher grade N95 masks needed to be imposed in aged-care facilities.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association warned that 19 per cent of nurses and midwives have also reported having difficulty accessing PPE. Concerns about a lack of training and proper fitting of masks were also raised.
A survey of 1270 nurses between July 23 and August 6 found close to 10 per cent − or 72 nurses − had been told not to wear PPE when they believed it was important for their safety. And 6.85 per cent (54) were told to reuse disposable protective equipment.
One survey participant said: “We have to ask all the time for PPE, which is locked up. We are encouraged not to wear masks all the time. And made to feel bad about using them.”
The survey raised concerns about a lack of access to masks despite NSW Health issuing an 'amber alert' three weeks ago for all public health workers to wear them within 1.5 metres of patients.
More than one in five staff from public and private hospitals, community health and aged care said there was not enough protective equipment available.
A spokesman for Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government has provided more than 50 million masks to states, territories, healthcare workers, aged care and disability service providers.
"National cabinet has been consistently advised by states and territories that they have sufficient supplies for all needs and the Commonwealth has and is able to meet all PPE requests from states,” he said.
"The Australian government will continue to provide bulk supplies from the national medical stockpile.
A spokeswoman for NSW Health said this financial year it will spend $1.7 billion on PPE, which it provides to all staff based on best practice. She said 53 of more than 140,000 NSW Health employees have so far tested positive to COVID-19 after exposure at work or in the community.
"Staff are not required to undertake tasks requiring PPE if the PPE is not available for use," the spokeswoman said.
Victorian Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos said "there is sufficient PPE for all our healthcare workers".
"We’re providing PPE to all our hospitals and have millions of items of PPE arriving at our warehouse regularly – ready to be distributed to all hospitals," she said.
The Australian Medical Association's Victorian president, Associate Professor Julian Rait, said he was "extremely concerned" by the rising prevalence of infection among healthcare workers and limited access to personal protective equipment including surgical masks.
"While we have been reassured that PPE protocols have been updated in Victoria, we continue to be aware of inconsistent supplies and also some knock-off personal protective equipment that fails to provide an adequate level of protection, particularly with respect to masks," he said.
with Carolyn Webb
Anna Patty is a Senior Writer for The Sydney Morning Herald with a focus on higher education. She is a former Workplace Editor, Education Editor, State Political Reporter and Health Reporter.
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2020-08-09 14:00:00Z
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