Welsh election 2021: Why this GP's vote rests on face masks

Dr Eilir Hughes wants healthcare staff to be given better face masks

For one north Wales GP, his vote in the upcoming Senedd/Welsh Parliament election rests on what many healthcare workers wear everyday - face masks.

Dr Eilir Hughes is calling for all health staff caring for Covid patients to be offered high-quality face masks, called filtering face pieces (FFP3).

Some staff working with Covid patients are only offered surgical masks.

Currently, FFP3 masks are only offered to health workers carrying out certain medical procedures.

However, a document by the UK government's scientific advisory group Sage has said higher grade masks may be needed when caring for Covid patients.

The Labour Welsh government said it is following official UK guidance.

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The Welsh Liberal Democrats said it would introduce FFP3 masks for healthcare workers, if they were proven to be more effective, Plaid Cymru said it would look to provide the "best protection" for NHS staff and the Welsh Conservative party said it would "conduct a review" into the masks after the election.

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Dr Hughes, who practises as a GP in Gwynedd and is also the leader of the Dwyfor Primary Care Cluster, said surgical masks "just aren't good enough, given that we know the FFP3 masks give better protection".

The latest guidance, followed by Public Health Wales, recommends the use of FFP3 masks only when health staff are carrying out aerosol generating procedures - such as inserting a tube down the throat to help with breathing - when there is deemed to be a Covid risk.

There is no support for the wider use of FFP3 masks, according to the guidance issued jointly by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and UK health bodies.

At least 23 hospital trusts in England have broken the official guidelines by giving the Covid-facing staff FFP3 masks.

A FFP3 mask (right) versus the thinner, and cheaper surgical masks (left)

Dr Hughes said: "You can't be a doctor, nurse or healthcare worker and treat people at arms length. You have to get close to care for them, so they ought to be properly protected as well as possible.

"FFP3 is what should be given to staff working on Covid wards regardless if they're doing aerosol generating procedures or not.

"The only time Covid patients do not produce aerosols is when they've stopped breathing.

"Mark Drakeford said he'd like to give all healthcare workers a drink in the pub, but we'd rather be properly protected."

In January an open letter from more than 1,500 health professionals called for NHS staff on general wards to be given the FFP3 masks, usually only worn in intensive care units.

The following month, the British Medical Association Cymru Wales wrote to the Welsh government calling for FFP2 and FFP3 masks to be made available to all frontline health workers.

And in March, nursing leaders said existing PPE equipment recommendations are based on out-of-date evidence.

FFP3 masks are currently only recommended for aerosol generating procedures

Dr Hughes, who has been involved with both Fresh Air NHS and Fresh Air Wales, groups raising awareness of the importance of ventilation to reduce Covid-19 spread, said the use of surgical masks has implications on NHS staff health and their families too.

WALES ELECTION: THE BASICS

What's happening? On 6 May, people will vote to elect 60 Members of the Senedd (MSs). The party that can command the support of a majority of MSs will form the Welsh government. Find out more here.

What powers does the Senedd have? MSs pass laws on aspects of life in Wales such as health, education and transport - and have some tax powers.

"We've had a lot of deaths in healthcare workers, a lot have got long Covid and a lot have gone off sick at some point," he added.

"If you give us better protection, the likelihood of staff contracting Covid and becoming sick is going to be less."

Other nations have taken steps to introduce clinical masks in day-to-day life, such as Germany where FFP2 masks are compulsory on public transport.

What does the latest science say?

There is "consistent, strong evidence" that coronavirus is mostly spread through airborne transmission, according to a report in The Lancet

Reports in several medical journals, such as The Lancet, say it has become clear that coronavirus spreads mostly between people at close range through inhalation.

An infected person produces many small viral respiratory particles - droplets or aerosols - which can be spread when breathing, shouting, sneezing or coughing and inhaled by someone else.

Meanwhile, healthcare workers wearing surgical masks have become infected without being involved in aerosol generating procedures, according to the British Medical Journal.

What do Wales' political parties say?

The Welsh government said: "We follow the PPE requirements set out in the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guidance, which is the official guidance used across all four UK nations."

A Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesman said: "Any policy on masks needs to be driven by science. If FFP3 masks are found to be more effective than surgical masks for healthcare workers then the government and health boards should ensure that is what healthcare workers are given."

Rhun ap Iowerth, Plaid Cymru's spokesman for health and Welsh Parliament candidate for Ynys Mon, said: "As we've been learning new things about coronavirus, its is right that changing evidence should lead to changing specifications for personal protective equipment, especially on Covid wards."

A Welsh Conservative spokesman said: "Welsh Conservatives will listen to staff and experts and ensure our heroic medical staff have everything they require to be safe whilst doing their duty on the front line.

"As such, Welsh Conservatives would conduct a review after the election into guidance relating to the wearing of FFP3 masks by all medical staff."

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