Staff at a Prospect doctors' surgery are growing increasingly nervous about dwindling supplies of personal protective equipment, with one GP saying there was growing uncertainty about whether back orders would be filled.
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The COVID-19 crisis has exposed a global shortage of PPEs, such as face masks and protective gloves, and surgeries in Northern Tasmania have been swept up in the predicament.
Donald Rose, a GP at the Summerdale Medical Practice, said staff there were beginning to worry about whether there may come a time when they run out of PPEs entirely.
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"We're all reading all over the place about how you can recycle some of it," Dr Rose said. "None of us really want to do that."
"[We've] got enough at the moment but we're all just depleting our supplies, we're not getting them renewed and all the [surgical suppliers] that have got back orders can't give us any idea when they're going to be able to replenish our supplies.
"Anything, you name it, we've got a back order on it and I think every surgery would be the same."
Dr Rose said his practice had sufficient quantities of surgical masks and gloves, but that protective glasses, face shields, gowns and jumpsuits were running low.
"We haven't got any light on the horizon, so we're getting more nervous, I suppose, as time goes on," he said.
"At the moment, because we're not aware of community spread, you use [PPEs] each day but you don't use too many sets of it because there are not too many people that you have to put a whole new set on for."
The federal and state governments, as well as both Primary Health Tasmania and the Australian Medical Association, were "doing a lot" to try to remedy the issue, according to Dr Rose.
We haven't got any light on the horizon, so we're getting more nervous ... as time goes on.
- Dr Donald Rose, GP
"But we're competing on the worldwide market," he said. "Every country in the world has got the same problem."
"Most countries are hanging onto the PPE they have because they need it."
Yesterday, Tasmania's Chief Medical Officer addressed the PPE shortage at a coronavirus media briefing in Hobart, also noting the global nature of the problem.
"We have a delicate balancing act with respect to PPE and this is a challenge that's being faced nationally and globally," Professor Lawler said. "PPEs are a finite resource and we definitely need to be using those appropriately and in the correct setting."
Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Tasmania
"Having said that, we're not proposing for risk to be placed on healthcare workers.
"We are not suggesting that that is the appropriate situation."
Health Minister Sarah Courtney has also acknowledged "challenges around procurement" when it comes to PPE.
Meanwhile, it was revealed late last month that a plan was in place to decontaminate and re-use face masks at the Launceston General Hospital in the event of a spike in demand, sparking concerns from the Health and Community Services Union that recycling masks had the potential to "jeopardise staff and patient safety".
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Rob Inglis
Rob Inglis is a reporter with The Examiner, covering state and federal politics. He is based in Hobart.
Rob Inglis is a reporter with The Examiner, covering state and federal politics. He is based in Hobart.
