Porters Like Me Don't Have PPE

Tragic final texts of hospital admin worker who died of virus. Friends and family want to ensure no others share his fate

- Adam Aspinall

The poignant final texts of a hospital worker who died of coronavirus have revealed him saying: ‘’’Porters like me... do not have PPE’’.

Tragic Peter Gough, 56, shared his concerns with a friend in a series of messages before his death this month.

He worked as an admin assistant at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and was known as a “gentle giant”.

Paul Saville, 53, who was friends with Peter for 25 years, exchanged texts about his work and the pandemic.

He has since said his friend was certain the hospital was the only place he could have caught Covid-19 – and called his passing a “scandal”.

So far, more than 175 frontline health and care workers have died after contracting the virus across Britain.

Bosses said the hospital had followed national guidance on giving staff PPE – but added those who do not have direct contact with patients are not considered to need it.

Mr Saville and Mr Gough, of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, had an exchange through text and online just over a month prior to the death.