SUE Ryder – which runs Manorlands hospice at Oxenhope – says it is in critical need of personal protection equipment (PPE) for its staff.

The charity, which employs over 1,000 doctors and nurses across its centres and is currently providing palliative care for coronavirus patients, warns it could run out of vital equipment within days.

And it added that without immediate changes to the PPE supply chain, it would have to stop providing end-of-life care to Covid-19 patients – which in turn would put “significant additional strain” on the NHS.

Sarah Bottomley, head of clinical services at Manorlands, said: “We appreciate the scale of the situation and we are not criticising the Government and other partners, who are trying their best.

“However, Sue Ryder has a responsibility to its staff and patients to alert the Government and say the situation is critical and the PPE supply chain is not working.”

In addition to Manorlands, the charity operates six other hospices – plus two neurological care centres – nationwide.

The Government said this week that obtaining enough PPE was “an international challenge” for all countries and it pledged the UK was doing everything it could to address the issue.

NHS England and NHS Improvement said additional equipment was being made available to wholesalers that routinely supply to GPs, dentists, pharmacies, social care and hospices.

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Airedale Hospital, said it had received donations of PPE from community groups and its stocks were currently “healthy”.

Sue Ryder’s battle for equipment comes on top of the fight already under way to keep Manorlands and its other hospices open.

The charity warned earlier this month that its facilities could be forced to shut within months due to a funding crisis and it launched an emergency appeal.

Manorlands bosses said this week they’d been “absolutely overwhelmed” by the response from the public.

Lizzie Procter, the hospice director at Manorlands, said: “A huge ‘thank you’ goes to everyone who has donated to our emergency appeal so far.

“We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of kindness and generosity from people in our local community during this really challenging time.

“As a charity we’ve had to close all our high street shops and cancel all fundraising events, and are facing a huge funding gap. Some of that gap will be filled by the Government’s coronavirus funding, but we still urgently need people’s support to allow us to continue to provide our services beyond the summer.

“We are asking the public to give whatever it can to help us to help those who need it most.”