Recommendation 18

In March 2020, officials from NHS England & NHS Improvement publicly assured the Health and Social Care Select Committee that these stockpiles meant the country was well placed to manage the COVID19 pandemic. However, the NAO report found that the stockpiles provided no more than two-weeks’ worth of most types of PPE needed by the NHS and social care during the pandemic and did not hold all the PPE they had been expected to hold (such as visors and gowns). Some of the stockpiled PPE had also passed its expiry date or did not meet current safety standards. Furthermore, government (and its contractors) struggled to distribute the stockpiled PPE as quickly as the situation required.28