There are now 1,065 active cases of COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Victoria, according to Premier Daniel Andrews.

As more healthcare workers contract the disease, managers of hospitals and aged care homes, as well as state and federal governments are under growing pressure to keep staff safe.

Today, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said there were substantial reserves of protective equipment, including N95 masks.

“No system is perfect. There are no issues about quantities. Further orders of gloves and gowns and N95 masks were ordered late last week,” he said.

But Mr Andrews ruled out mandating issuing P2 and N95 masks to all Victorian hospital and aged care workers treating COVID-19 patients, saying it was a matter for health experts to issue guidelines about proper use of protective equipment.

“The timely issuing of PPE is a challenge and everyone is working as hard as they can,” he said.

The Premier said his Cabinet had approved further orders of PPE, including gloves, gowns and N95 masks, due to more patients presenting to hospitals, but also in order to supply other high-risk workplaces.

“They need extra PPE and we wanted to make sure that that wasn’t the difference between them complying,” he said.

Last week, the ABC reported a nurse who contracted coronavirus had begged for better personal protective equipment.

She remains in isolation away from her family.

Today, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth said authorities were listening to healthcare workers’ concerns.

“The Victorian guidelines have changed to ensure that healthcare workers wear P2 or N95 respirators when they’re caring for patients who are COVID positive or suspected cases,” he said.

While Victoria recommends this approach, a national survey by the Royal Australian College of Physicians (RACP) found one in five respondents who worked in public hospitals had to source their own protective equipment.

RACP president and respiratory physician John Wilson said the college had serious concerns about the safety of its members.

“While they are putting their lives on the line to tackle this pandemic, our Government must be doing everything they can to provide them with sufficient protective equipment,” he said.

According to the RACP’s survey of 677 doctors, 45 per cent of respondents had limited or no access to N95 or P2 masks.

“Our hospitals must be providing all staff with the PPE they need to do their job safely,” Professor Wilson said.

“The results of this survey show that in some public and private settings this isn’t happening.”

What is the current federal advice around PPE?

There is a federal agency called the Infection Control Expert Group that advises health authorities on what guidance to give around PPE.

On Friday, the agency updated its advice and recommended healthcare professionals wore N95 masks when treating confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients who displayed challenging behaviours such as shouting or who were exhibiting mental illness.

It said P2 and N95 masks should be used in “emergency departments, residential facilities, COVID-19 wards” in “areas with significant community transmission” where one or both apply:

• Patients “have cognitive impairment, unable to cooperate or exhibit challenging behaviours”
• There are high numbers of suspected or confirmed patients and a risk of challenging behaviours and unplanned use of procedures using aerosols

What do groups representing healthcare workers want?

For many in the sector, the updated advice on PPE did not go far enough because it stopped short of recommending across the board use of P2 or N95 masks by healthcare workers dealing with all suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases.

“P2 or N95 masks filter and best prevent virus transmission. If a doctor or nurse is caring for a patient with, or likely to have, COVID-19, P2 or N95 masks are essential, regardless of the presence of potential challenging behaviours,” Australian Medical Association federal president Omar Khorshid said on Friday.

At the beginning of August, a group of concerned doctors led by Ben Veness wrote to Health Minister Greg Hunt asking that all healthcare workers treating suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients be provided with N95 face masks in order to prevent them from contracting the potentially fatal disease.

The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association said it stood with other healthcare workers in calling for properly fitted N95 masks to be made available to health professionals treating COVID-19 patients.

The group said a recent survey of nurses and midwives found nearly 45 per cent of workers required to wear the masks had not gone through the proper testing procedures to check that they fit correctly.