London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Nursing leaders call for PPE review amid new Covid variant threat

Nursing leaders call for PPE review amid new Covid variant threat

Boris Johnson said there is ‘some evidence’ the new UK Covid variant is more deadly
Nursing leaders are calling on the Government to urgently review whether standard surgical masks offer enough protection against the mutated strain of coronavirus detected in the UK.

The new Covid variant is said to be “70 per cent more transmissible” than the original strains of the virus and has been linked to a “higher degree of mortality”.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has written to the Government and joined forces with the British Medical Association (BMA) to write to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after members raised fears they have inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE).

RCN chief executive and general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said nurses were concerned that the standard face mask may not be effective in protecting against new strains of the virus and possible airborne spread in healthcare settings.

The College said it was aware that some NHS trusts are using higher grade face masks in all parts of their hospitals, while others use standard face masks.

“The Government’s silence on this issue is creating a postcode lottery for nursing staff whereby some working on wards have access to the higher-grade face masks and others do not,” said Dame Donna.

“It must stop dragging its feet on this issue. Nursing staff need to have full confidence that they are protected.

“Staff picking up this virus at work are angered at any suggestion they have stopped following the rules – this is down to the new variant and the dangerous shortage of adequate protection.”

One nurse told the PA news agency she feels staff are being treated like “lambs to the slaughter” due to the inadequacy of surgical masks.

Jane, which is not her real name, is a nurse from Yorkshire and member of grassroots campaign group Nurses United.

She said she contracted Covid in April last year after helping a coronavirus patient inside an ambulance, while both she and the patient were wearing a surgical mask.

She has suffered from debilitating Long Covid symptoms since, even taking the last four weeks off work due to chronic fatigue – nine months after her initial infection.

“I feel kind of like half the human that I was,” Jane said.

She added that failing to protect all staff with suitable PPE made staff feel like “commodities”.

“In critical care areas they’re in full PPE but in the actual wards we’re still in surgical masks… the issue is that the surgical facemasks aren’t effective enough,” she said.

“On top of the trauma, the PTSD and everything else that staff are feeling… people feel let down, scared and vulnerable – like we’re just commodities or lambs to the slaughter.

“People start doubting who they’re working for and what they’re doing.”

In a letter to Jo Churchill, minister for prevention, public health and primary care, Dame Donna said staff were “aware that fluid repellent surgical face masks and face coverings, as currently advised in most general healthcare settings and patients’ homes, are not protective against smaller infective aerosols despite the Government video outlining risks of infective aerosols in the air.”

In a further letter to Sarah Albon, chief executive of the HSE, and signed by Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA council, Dame Donna said: “In the absence of clarity on the reasons behind the new variants’ increased infectivity, we are calling for the HSE to take a precautionary approach and to use your role as a regulator to ensure employers and those developing national guidance meet and understand their responsibilities.”

She added: “Adequate supplies of PPE that meet the required specifications are vital to support nursing staff to do their jobs safely.

“Without support to use suitable PPE, nursing staff are putting their own lives, and the lives of their colleagues, families and patients, at risk.”

In the letter, the RCN cites NHS data showing a 22 per cent rise in the average number of health care staff off due to Covid-19 in the first week of this month compared with the last week in December.

From December 31 to January 6 an average of 41,641 employees were off each day, up from 34,210 for the period December 24 to 30.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×