PPE specialists ARCO have expressed their disappointment at the government's decision to write off £8.7bn of pandemic PPE.
In a statement on social media the organisation said,
"We understand that this cost resulted from buying equipment that was not fit-for-purpose, paying increased prices in a competitive global market and purchasing products that subsequently had passed their expiry date. Of most concern was the £2.6bn that was spent on PPE not suitable for use in the NHS. "
"Whilst we appreciate there was an urgent requirement for PPE for frontline responders at the beginning of the pandemic and that the Government was facing unprecedented and challenging circumstances, we still believe that, with our track record in procurement, emergency planning and expertise in the procurement of PPE, the Government could have engaged more proactively with Arco to benefit from our expert knowledge to support the procurement process. "
"We still feel that there are important lessons to learn from what went wrong and we have produced a position paper: Personal Protective Equipment and the Government’s Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in which we share our own experiences during the pandemic but, more importantly, we propose a 10-point set of recommendations that could help prevent a repeat of the issues that are now coming to light. "
To download a copy of the position paper click here
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