Inadequate protective equipment put NHS staff and patients at risk during the pandemic, the UK Covid inquiry has found. Its report says healthcare workers could not properly protect themselves or the people in their care from dangerous infections.
The government wrote off £9.9bn of PPE that was unused or out of date, equivalent to about two-thirds of its £14.9bn PPE spending. Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett said the UK entered the pandemic with a depleted stockpile and was unprepared for the rush to secure supplies.
By the end of March 2020, the emergency stockpile was running low. Only a third of masks in England's pandemic stockpile were usable, while Scotland had no high-grade respiratory masks for hospitals. Care homes, GP surgeries and pharmacies had been expected to obtain their own PPE.
Hallett said the VIP lane, which prioritised PPE offers from people with political connections, was misguided and should not be repeated. She said there was no evidence of cronyism or corruption by ministers or other officials in the award of final contracts.
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