Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
The Department told us that the stockpile it held at the beginning of the pandemic...
Conclusion
The Department told us that the stockpile it held at the beginning of the pandemic was exceptionally useful and that there would have been PPE shortages without it. This stockpile was established in 2009, after the swine flu outbreak.28 We questioned the Department on its plans for holding a PPE stockpile in the future and learning from its experience in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department acknowledged that this is going to be a key decision as it would be possible to spend a very large sum of money on a stockpile that is never used or turns out to contain the wrong items for the next disease.29 The Department confirmed that it has not yet decided on what level of stockpile it should hold in the future.30
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
3: PAC conclusion: There is no clear plan for how big the PPE stockpile needs to be and how the Department will build greater resilience into the NHS supply chain so that it can respond at pace to future urgent needs. 3: PAC recommendation: The Department should develop a clear plan to increase the resilience of the NHS supply chain to be able to respond at speed if there is another pandemic or variant of concern and needs to explain in detail to the Committee how it intends to work out what items and how much PPE it needs to hold as a national stockpile going forward. 3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2023 3.2 The department is undertaking a fundamental review of the clinical countermeasures, including PPE, that need to be readily accessible in event of a future pandemic or emerging infectious disease. This review factors in lessons learnt from COVID-19 pandemic, the updated analysis of risks undertaken for the next iteration of the National Risk Register and the department’s new approach to pandemic preparedness. 3.3 Informed by expert advice and modelling, the department is working closely with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS Supply Chain on the product mix and amounts