What we learned from the Covid inquiry PPE report

Image source, PA By Jim Reed and Michelle Roberts BBC News Published 19 minutes ago The Covid inquiry has published its damning report into why NHS workers did not have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) when the pandemic hit. It details what went wrong with the government's planning and buying of vital items like gloves and gowns that cost taxpayers billions of pounds. Here's a look at the key findings: Billions of taxpayers' money wasted on poor PPE The scramble to buy PPE during the pandemic saw the UK waste almost £10 billion of taxpayers' money, the inquiry says, with tens of millions of pounds more spent on other equipment that simply could not be used. The chair Baroness Heather Hallett criticised the "vast" waste in pandemic procurement, amounting to two-thirds of the £14.9bn total the UK and devolved governments spent on PPE. Although it was better to have purchased too much PPE in a pandemic than too little, it would "clearly have been better if supply had been calibrated more closely with demand", the report concluded. "Better planning would have resulted in fairer, faster and less costly procurement decisions." "Had ministers and officials been better equipped with appropriate plans, information and systems, procurement decisions would have been easier, fairer and far less costly – and equipment would have reached those who needed it faster," Hallett added. NHS staff and patients left at risk The country entered the pandemic with its stockpile of masks, gowns and gloves in a "perilous state" and was "simply not ready to compete" in the global race to secure new supplies, Hallett said. There were large quantities of expired equipment, that was past its useful life. Only a third of the masks in England's pre-pandemic stockpile were usable, while Scotland had no supplies of the top-level FFP3 masks needed by healthcare professionals. At the time, some staff - in desperation - used bin bags as makeshift protection , or washed and reused some PPE items. "If governments failed to procure the required equipment and supplies, key workers, including health and social care workers, could not be properly protected; their lives and the lives of those for whom they care were put at risk," said Hallett. Unfair 'VIP' lane for PPE contracts The VIP lane system was introduced in April 2020 in England. The idea was to treat offers to supply PPE with greater urgency if they came with a recommendation from ministers, MPs, members of the House of Lords, or other senior officials. The policy was sharply criticised by Hallett who described it as a "misguided attempt at prioritisation" that "embedded unfairness in emergency procurement". While she said there was "no evidence of cronyism or corruption" by ministers or officials when awarding contracts, the system was "inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government". It should never be repeated in any future pandemic, she said. What wasn't covered The report did not include f