Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Witnesses from organisations representing staff working in health and social care told us that providers...
Conclusion
Witnesses from organisations representing staff working in health and social care told us that providers received unusable PPE from central government. The Royal College of Nursing told us of instances where it had received masks on which the elastic was rotten, goggles which took significant amounts of time to assemble and were later recalled for being unsafe, and of opening a box of gowns to find insects inside. It also told us that it had received stock with stickers with dates showing the products had passed their expiry dates, and new stickers replacing these, with no explanation of any process to assure that the equipment was still safe. It noted that frontline staff were faced with unfamiliar-looking PPE and lacked confidence whether it was safe, and they were sometimes very frightened as a result. UNISON agreed that similar experiences were causing distress and anxiety to frontline workers.40 In its letter to us after our evidence session, the Department stated that it had recalled and quarantined 40 million items of faulty PPE.41
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
7: PAC conclusion: The Department has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on PPE which is of poor quality and cannot be used for the intended purpose. 7a: PAC recommendation: The Department should write to the Committee by July 2021 setting out how much of the PPE it ordered it has received and checked, and the volumes and costs of the PPE that (a) cannot be used at all; (b) cannot be used for its intended purpose; and (c) its methodology for determining the volumes and costs of PPE which it considers to be in each of these categories. 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2021 7.2 Processes are underway to review the quality of all the PPE the government has bought, which is on course to complete by the end of June 2021. 7.3 This process will determine whether or not products are suitable to be released to the frontline. Any products that are not currently used on the frontline will be subject to further quality investigation and contractual review. The department will write to the Committee by the end of July 2021 to report on the findings from this analysis. In January 2021, the department reported to the Committee that 1.3% of total PPE bought could not be used for its original intended purpose. This was generated as a best estimate at the time. The department is now reviewing with support of external audit to assess the current 11% of ordered volume that is not currently being supplied to the frontline. After this work is complete, it will be able to give a final accurate per cent of volume that cannot be used for its original intended purpose. A total of 0.31% of delivered volume are marked as wastage. 7.4 This review will enable an assessment of the costs of the PPE in each of these categories to be made. An assessment of the value of the stock will be made, using the weighted average cost model, and the department will provide the Committee with a detailed breakdown in July 2021.