Nurse's shocking account of treating NHS colleagues struck by coronavirus

19 April 2020, 08:51 | Updated: 19 April 2020, 13:15

NHS nurse distraught at treating colleagues hit by Covid due to lack of PPE

This brave NHS worker told LBC her horror at having to treat her colleagues that caught coronavirus because they didn't have sufficient PPE.

Jane was calling from Lambeth and she spoke to Matt Frei as she came off a night shift working on the coronavirus frontline. She was telling Matt just how stretched the service is as she revealed that many of her colleagues fell at the first hurdle because of insufficient stocks of PPE.

"We're nursing our own staff" she revealed. The NHS nurse said that her hospital was provided by the government just four boxes of PPE in the beginning of the coronavirus crisis - which was gone by the end of day one.

Jane imagined how her colleagues must be feeling to be unable to work and be instead treated by fellow healthcare workers.

She said it is the "most horrendous thing to be looked after by your own colleagues" as their helplessness in the situation must be eating away at them.

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"You want me to come in and do my job without PPE" Jane began, seeing the nonsensical nature of the government's insistence on allowing NHS staff to treat patients without PPE, leading to an endless cycle of sick healthcare workers.

Asked by Matt her opinion on how she felt when she heard the Health Secretary's "magic wand" comments, she branded it "disgusting".

The nurse was baffled by the lack of preparedness in the situation, stating that she doesn't know what the government thought was coming.

Jane ended by telling Matt that "there's no end in sight" and the government must stock up in an unprecedented effort to equip the NHS appropriately.