The Association of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Intensive Care Society and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine are aware of their members’ significant concerns about their own health and that of their patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We must not only protect ourselves, but we must also protect our families and colleagues.

A healthcare worker infected with COVID-19 is at significant risk of personal harm and at the same time is unable to be part of the healthcare workforce.

The use of PPE appropriate to the clinical situation has been a key part of our professional lives for many years; the current pandemic virus has brought this issue to the fore, with reports of healthcare workers suffering severe complications of COVID-19 infection.

There are urgent matters we wish to bring to your attention: the status of current PPE guidance, the work we have been doing to highlight the impact of shortages of PPE, and the potential for inappropriate use of PPE. These three matters are inevitably linked.

Current guidance issued by Public Health England (PHE) and its devolved equivalents has been interpreted in very different ways, some of which can lead to the unnecessary use of PPE and consequent shortages.

Download the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Guidance

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