More female NHS staff could die from coronavirus because of wrongly sized PPE, union official warns

'At times when we’ve been in high-risk areas, the mask hasn’t felt like it has fitted very well, but I’ve not had the opportunity to test it. They haven’t said why they have stopped testing,' doctor tells The Independent

Female NHS workers lives are being placed at risk by wrongly sized protective equipment and more women staff could die of coronavirus than they would have otherwise, a senior medical union official has warned.

The comments come after trade unions and professional medical organisations warned personal protective equipment (PPE) tends to be designed for the “size and shape of male bodies” even though 75 per cent of NHS workers are women.

Desperate shortages of PPE – which includes crucial products such as hand sanitiser, gloves, visors, aprons, and face masks – have provoked sustained criticism of the government.

Dr Sarah Hallett, a senior official at the British Medical Association, the professional organisation for doctors, told The Independent the dearth of correctly sized PPE for women is putting both female health workers and their patients at risk.

“So much work campaigning has been done around making sure PPE is there and available, so if it is going to be there, it also needs to do its job,” Dr Hallett, a doctor who has been working with Covid-19 patients herself, said.

“It needs to fit properly and therefore protect the worker. The gowns are available in one size. That size is XXL so it can’t cater to all body sizes. That is widespread everywhere I’ve worked. It is an ongoing problem. We need to see correctly sized masks, gowns, and visors. When it says unisex, often it has been designed around a European American male form. It is a frustrating situation for people to be in and it is an avoidable problem.

“We have had some reports where women are having to pull the mask tightly. Even tighter than normal, which is causing pain and potentially pressure sores. I have heard reports of women who find the masks are so big, it goes all the way up to their lower eyelids, which makes it difficult to see what you are doing.”

Dr Hallet, who is chair of the British Medical Association’s Junior Doctors Committee, said the issue of wrongly sized PPE for women is placing their lives at risk and could lead to more women needlessly dying of Covid-19 than otherwise would have.

She said healthcare workers are too anxious to publicly speak out about issues around PPE but it is important they are able to given the issue puts themselves and others at risk.

Dr Hallet said the process of removing protective gear is one of the riskiest times for doctors to contract coronavirus but noted the removal of such equipment is substantially more dangerous if it does not fit properly.

The doctor said research has shown manufacturers do not use a diverse population when they create PPE – adding incorrectly sized PPE for women is a “long-standing problem” which had been exacerbated by being in a global pandemic.

Dr Hallet said she has heard reports of healthcare services where tests to ensure masks fit correctly are not taking place.

“You rely on having a good seal around the mask to make sure you are filtering the virus out,” she added. “For most people coronavirus won’t be a serious infection, but for some people, it will.”

The coronavirus crisis has claimed more than 150 frontline NHS and care workers’ lives so far but the actual figure is expected to be substantially larger.

A doctor, who chose to remain anonymous, told The Independent the hospital she works in is no longer carrying out proper testing to ensure face masks fit properly during the coronavirus emergency.

The dearth of tests is particularly problematic for women who often have problems getting masks to fit their faces, she said.

She added: “There is guidance available from the health and safety executive which demonstrates how you are meant to do fit testing. The most common method in the NHS is to use different tasting smells. They spray them and see whether you can taste the sprays while you are doing various different actions to see if it can get in around the mask. But they have stopped these tests.

“We are only provided with one kind of mask. At times when we’ve been in high-risk areas, the mask hasn’t felt like it has fitted very well, but I’ve not had the opportunity to test it. They haven’t said why they have stopped testing. I assume it is a resource issue. You need people who are trained to do the testing. It is pretty worrying because even though I’m not high risk for coronavirus, I still don’t want to get it.

“This would be particularly concerning and really upsetting if you are at higher risk of having a serious coronavirus infection or if you were living with someone at high risk."

A 2016 poll carried out by two trade unions TUC and Prospect found almost a third of women were using PPE that had been expressly designed for women while 57 per cent said their PPE hindered their ability to treat patients and carry out their jobs.

Sue Ferns, senior deputy general secretary of Prospect, called for the “era of one-size-fits-all” to end now.

Ms Ferns added: “Properly fitting PPE is essential both for comfort and effectiveness and it is generally women who are being overlooked. This is a perennial problem but for it to be persisting in the middle of the biggest acute health crisis in generations is appalling.”

The nursing sector has also raised concerns around wrongly sized PPE for women amid the Covid-19 emergency. Some nine out of 10 nurses in the UK are female.

Rose Gallagher, professional lead for infection prevention and control at the Royal College of Nursing, previously told The Independent: “One-size-fits-all protective equipment has been a problem for frontline healthcare workers who have to wear this specialist life-saving equipment for up to 12 hours at a time.

“Nurses can find it very difficult to deliver care to patients if this equipment is so uncomfortable it bruises the skin and makes them feel hot and unwell."