PIERS Morgan has ripped into Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey over the failure to get personal protective equipment to care homes.
The Good Morning Britain host tore apart the Government’s claim that there was a plan to keep staff in care homes and NHS centres safe.
Ms Coffey tried to defend herself and the Government, telling Piers: “We had a pandemic plan for a virus like the flu.
“We did have a lot of stocks (of PPE) but they were not being distributed across the country as quickly as we would like.”
“We recognise that we need more PPE in the future.”
Piers demanded Ms Coffey admit the Government had made critical errors when it came to preparedness for coronavirus.
He said: “The plan can be any plan you like, but the plan has left NHS frontline workers chronically short, for much of the crisis, of the right PPE.”
“We know it has left care workers chronically short of the right PPE.
“We do not have enough ventilators, we were begging other countries for ventilators.
“When you say we had a plan and you (aren’t) prepared to admit any mistakes, I say that is quite self evidently ridiculous.”
Ms Coffey was forced to admit she did not know how many NHS or care workers had died from the virus.
Piers slammed her for her ignorance: “How can a member of the British government sent out to talk to the media have literally no idea how many NHS workers or care workers have died.
“We have never seen this kind of carnage wreaking havoc on our health workers and care workers, it shouldn’t be too much to ask that the government know how many people are dying.”
Piers refused to accept enough had been done to get protective kit to staff.
“We don’t want care workers going into care homes today without the right PPE.”
“The reason (frontline staff) haven’t got (PPE) is we had such a complacent attitude to this while other countries were locking down… we spent weeks refusing to accept the severity of this crisis.”
“Your plan didn’t work did it Ms Coffey? It singularly didn’t work.”
The row over personal protective equipment has only deepened as the UK gets further and further into the crisis, and frontline workers across the country beg for protection.
One nurse revealed he had to cut up plastic curtains to wear as PPE.
But Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said repeatedly ministers are doing everything they can to get PPE to staff, and there are enough stocks of protective gear.
At least 19 NHS workers have died of COVID-19.
Piers accused the Government of shirking responsibility and failing to bring in lockdown measures quickly enough.
He said there was no way the Cheltenham festival should have been allowed to go ahead with 250,000 people after the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
Ms Coffey tried to defend herself against Piers’ tirade saying they had enlisted the army to pick up the slack and deliver PPE where there had been holes in the system.
Piers then took aim at the Government’s failure to remove VAT from deliveries of PPE to care homes, which has been removed for NHS hospitals.
Ms Coffey told him care homes would be able to claim VAT back, but Piers still wouldn’t accept that.
He said: “Why bother charging it? Remove the process. Remove it right now, stop them doing unnecessary paper work – let them do what they’re supposed to do. Save lives.”
