PPE failures left NHS staff poorly protected and wasted billions, Covid inquiry finds
The lives of NHS staff and patients are being put at risk from the outbreak due to a lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), the Covid inquiry has said.
The investigation found that almost two-thirds of the £14.9bn the UK and its devolved governments spent on PPE – almost £10bn – was wasted.
The UK entered the pandemic in a “precarious situation” with stockpiles of masks, gowns and gloves, and the country is “not prepared to compete” in the global race to get new supplies.
The investigation concluded that medical staff failed to properly protect themselves or those in their care from dangerous infections.
Baroness Hallett, chair of the inquiry, described the waste of taxpayers’ money as “huge” and said over-reliance on China to manufacture equipment left the UK “dangerously over-exposed”.
The investigation found that when the cost of home testing kits and other equipment such as ventilators were included, the total amount spent by the government between January 2020 and June 2022 exceeded £42bn.
The UK’s emergency stock of PPE, which was planned to last at least 15 weeks before being replenished, was running out at the end of March 2020 as demand from hospitals increased.
