Funeral directors and disaster relief charities are stepping in to help NHS hospitals in desperate need more body bags and personal protective equipment (PPE).
As medics continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, the GMB Union claimed hospitals in Surrey had asked staff to wrap deceased patients in plastic sheets.
Now undertakers are being asked to share their supplies to plug the gap and international aid workers are donating body bags that they never imagined would be used in Britain.
Michael Tiney, head of Southall Funeral Service in West London says two hospitals in the capital have asked him PPE including disposable aprons but there’s only so much gear they can spare themselves.
He told Metro.co.uk: ‘There’s a real shortage of body bags. We try to help out as much as we can but we also need a source of equipment as well.’
‘Every case we get called to, whether it’s in at home or a nursing home we’re having to treat it as Covid-19, so every body is going out in a body bag. I would rather not risk my staff.
‘I would be much happier if I said use all the PPE just to make sure when if the results come back negative that’s fine.
I can’t afford to lose any members of my own team’ Mr Tiney said they could only give 20 body bags to one of the hospital who contacted them, which was ‘as many as I can let them have’ in current circumstances.
Demand for his firm has reached record highs. Previously one of its busiest times was February last year when he was working with around 53 families.
Mr Tiney added: ‘I’m now up to 92 families I’m helping as of the 10th of April. We’ve either done funeral for them or we’re doing funerals for them.
His comments come as Health Secretary pledged to ensure ‘everyone’ working in critical care have all the gloves, aprons, masks and body bags they need.
Remarking on Matt Hancock’s promise, Mr Tiney said: ‘They say they’re getting PPE through, which is great, for the frontline staff.
‘Unfortunately we’re the invisible part of the frontline staff that’s forgotten about. We need equipment like body bags.
Ravi Singh director of humanitarian charity Khalsa Aid, has approached Hillingdon and St Mary’s Hospitals in London and has donated 130 body bags to them over the past few weeks.
His organisation, which provides disaster relief and humanitarian support all over the world, stockpiled about 800 of them many years ago.
Mr Singh, from Slough, said: ‘Never in a million years did we think we would need them in our own country.’ Suggesting the country was ‘under-prepared’ for such a health crisis, he added: ‘I think more and more people are waking up to the reality now. It’s really really shocking.’
Khalsa Aid are also distributing hand santiser, food and other vital equipment for people in need across Britain. They are in talks with a supplier in Canada and are aiming to get 7,000 bags made to supply to UK health services and morticians.
After dropping off 60 body bags today at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, Central London, Mr Singh said: ‘The guy was really grateful, he said the hospital may have some government supplies but not like these bags.’
An NHS Supply Chain spokeswoman told Metro.co.uk: ‘We are continuing to deliver millions of products to NHS trusts and other organisations every single day, working as part of a central team.
‘Teams are working collaboratively to continue to source supplies from current suppliers, new suppliers and exploring whether companies based in the UK can repurpose their manufacturing facilities to help with producing supplies of PPE for the frontline.’
According to the GMB Union porters at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust have been instructed to use plastic sheets to transport dead patients as body bags have ‘run out’.
They staff are worried about ‘flimsy’ equipment putting them at ‘increased’ risk of contracting Covid-19.
But trust chief executive Daniel Elkeles said Public Health England guidance says there is ‘no requirement for a body bag’ even if the deceased was ‘known or suspected to have been infected with coronavirus’.
He added: ‘We can confirm that we do not have a shortage of body bags and we have room in our mortuaries to support deceased patients.’
(METRO.CO.UK)
