The PPE could not be used because it did not meet NHS standards
According to the Public Accounts Committee , the Department of Health and Social Care lost 75% of the £12 billion it spent on PPE in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic to inflated prices and faulty kit.The DHSC has disputed this, saying that not all of the unusable PPE will be burned, and much of it will be used in other settings or recycled.
The Labour MP said: “The story of PPE purchasing is perhaps the most shameful episode in the UK Government response to the pandemic. At the start of the pandemic health service and social care staff were left to risk their own and their families’ lives due to the lack of basic PPE. “Add to that a series of inappropriate, unauthorised severance payoffs made by clinical commissioning groups in the first year of the pandemic and the impression given falls even further from what we expect.
Chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing Pat Cullen said the burning of PPE is a “galling” reminder that the DHSC’s approach to procurement may also have cost nurses’ lives.She said: “Our members will find this galling. It is a painful reminder of the worst of the pandemic – inadequate or wasteful PPE.
DHSC officials disputed the PAC’s claim that £4 billion of PPE would be burned, saying that only around 3% of PPE the department has purchased – equivalent to around £670 million – cannot be used because it is not fit for “any” purpose.
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