The Guardian reports that a high court legal challenge against the government has begun after they refused to order an urgent investigation into the shortages of personal protective equipment faced by NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic.
The proceedings were issued on Monday by doctors, lawyers and campaigners for older people’s welfare. They hope that the challenge will lead to a judicial review of the government’s efforts to ensure staff had enough PPE to keep them safe and to compel ministers to hold an independent inquiry into PPE and ensure staff in settings looking after Covid-19 patients will be able to obtain the gowns, masks, eye protection and gloves they need if, as many doctors fear, there is a second wave of the disease.
The case is being brought against Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), the Good Law Project and the charity Hourglass, which campaigns on issues involving care homes.
Full story in The Guardian, 8 June 2020