Doctors and nurses could be ’putting their lives on the line’ if they follow Government advice to reuse protective personal equipment (PPE).

The British Medical Association (BMA) was responding to new Public Health England guidance, which recommends the reuse of PPE for healthcare workers in the face of shortages, as well as alternatives such as wearing aprons instead of gowns to treat Covid-19 patients.

"The Health and Social Care Secretary has admittted he couldn’t guarantee that supplies of gowns wouldn’t run out this weekend, and now this guidance is a further admission of the dire situation that some doctors and healthcare workers continue to find themselves in," said BMA consultants committee chair Dr Rob Harwood.

"Too many healthcare workers have already died. Doctors and their colleagues cannot be expected to put their own lives on the line in a bid to save others, and this new advice means they could be doing just that. It’s not a decision they should have to make."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that securing supplies of PPE ’is a global challenge’ and that he didn’t know when shortages would end.

Efforts will be increased to produce PPE in the UK, and the Government has issued a plea for companies to come forward to help.

Meanwhile, Cornwall Council says it has received less than a third of the face masks it requested this week for frontline workers.

Leader Cllr Julian German revealed that the council had requested 36,000 face masks but was only provided with 11,000.

Cornwall Council has been trying to get supplies of PPE which would be distributed to care homes, domiciliary care workers and other essential key workers. This is a separate supply from that for NHS staff.

Rob Rotchell, Cornwall Council cabinet member for Adults, says that getting sufficient quantities of PPE ’is probably my biggest challenge’.

"Here in Cornwall we have been receiving significantly less than we have been ordering, by as much as 30% on occasions and deliveries are usually several days late. As a council we have written to Matt Hancock, Secretary of State, about our concerns and we meet the Cornish MPs twice weekly via Skype to press our case for sufficient supplies.

"This is putting both the lives of staff and service users at risk and is unacceptable. I have authorised the purchase of extra face masks outside the contract but it still won’t be sufficient to meet the need."