The noval coronavirus (covid-19) is a silent killer that none of us were prepared for. Many people have lost loved ones, and even more people will die in the coming months.

I am an A&E doctor in the NHS, and we are all doing everything we can to help the fight against this deadly virus

I am terrified.

As more and more people attend A&E we go through our PPE (personal protective equipment) incredibly quickly. There just is not enough of it and a lot of the time we are having to use sub-standard PPE. It’s either that or nothing at all.

A nurse attended our A&E department as a patient recently, struggling to breathe. 2 weeks prior to that, she was asked to swab 4 patients suspected to have covid-19 and was given no PPE. All of those patients she swabbed tested positive and the nurse herself developed symptoms three days later.

More and more of my colleagues, Doctors and Nurses are having to self-isolate and we are all terrified of passing the virus to our own families. With many forced to stay at home the NHS is becoming even more stretched than normal.

The Government and NHS trusts are doing all they can but there is a limit to what they can achieve and prioritise during this time. It seems like PPE and tests for NHS staff have fallen down the priority list.

Myself and a group of Doctors have found a reliable supplier of protective equipment and have begun purchasing our own PPE. Sadly we can’t afford to buy everyone working in hospital the equipment they need, but we are asking for your help. Anything you can spare to help us provide PPE equipment to our colleagues would be invaluable in saving lives across the country.

Please help protect the people that protect you.