PPE crisis in hospitals is a matter of life and death – The Yorkshire Post says

For the second successive Thursday, a country fatigued by coronavirus – and its horrendous impact on every section of society – clapped, cheered and took part in spontaneous musical tributes from their doorsteps, and windows, to express their gratitude.

As Yorkshire junior doctor David Smith wrote so eloquently in this newspaper yesterday, these gestures – and acts of kindness in supermarkets and so on – do make a difference to the morale of those NHS workers, carers and others facing the gravest public health crisis of their careers.

But what will really help medics, and emergency workers, is the provision of adequate PPE screening equipment – they have already waited far too long for face masks and so on – and the acceleration of the screening of NHS staff, hospital patients and the wider population for this contagious virus.

A week after Boris Johnson made pronouncements to this effect before his own period of enforced self-isolation, the public and private sector now need to come together, like never before, to address these fundamental failings before more lives are put at risk. It is already a matter of life and death. But, if manufacturers can come to the rescue, the NHS will then have good reason – in time – to reciprocate the applause that rang out last night across the county.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor