The Government has wasted more than £9.9 billion on useless PPE,

To add further to your post, today's annual report of the Dept of Health and Social Care revealed on page 199 (!) £8.7bn was lost out of a spend of £12.1bn ie 72% lost! Given the revelation of the VIP channels to Tory chums for PPE purchase are we surprised so much was purchased above standard purchase price or below standard or not suitable for the people for whom it was purchased! No wonder their desperate for the NI increase - these PPE losses plus the business loan fraud equals almost a third of the revenue anticipated!!!

typing error above: 'they are desperate' (sorry - fingers too fast!)

Can some one point me at info on WHY this PPE cannot be used?

I had an annual optician appointment today. Optician and helper all wore mask and gloves (vinyl?). The helpers all wore plastic aprons too. The optician wore no apron.

If aprons are so important the optician would be wearing one too. He/she gets much closer to the person whos eyes are being checked than the helpers do.

Ergo I think the aprons are pointless.

Baggs
Most of it has a shelf life.

I’ve had 3 visits to the opticians while in the pandemic.
Always a mask but no apron or gloves.

MerylStreep

Baggs
Most of it has a shelf life.

Why does most of it have a shelp life? It's blimmin' plastic!

PS thank you for the reply though

MerylStreep

I’ve had 3 visits to the opticians while in the pandemic.
Always a mask but no apron or gloves.

Which suggests that most of it isn't really necessary anyway.

Anyway, if the government over-ordered shelf-lifed PPE, how is that bad? Just think how the vipers would be at 'em if they'd ordered too little.

Belt and braces better than not surely?

Baggs, you are right in your surmise. I really cannot see why an opticians assistant is wearing a plastic apron. Worn by nursing and medical staff to protect clothing from bodily fluids, both real and possible, nursing ill patients, disposed of properly to avoid contamination , are there bodily fluids in an opticians premises. Gives a false sense of security, and are they changing between each client, probably not.

£750 million buying PPE which will pass its expiry date before we can use it.

I'm not sure why it expires - is it rubberised? Does it rot?
Plastic takes years to degrade.
Can it not be kept in good storage and used gradually? And is it not suitable for use post-Covid when we might not need PPE made with such stringent specifications?

I hate waste.

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Get a life!

Far better to over order than under order especially with a killer disease.

On one hand everyone is creating because plastic takes years to degrade now they are flapping because, hopefully, it won’t be needed.

Calistemon
i hate waste same here.
But having worked for a nationalised industry I’m aware that there are an awful lot of people who view expenditure as only tax payers money.

And yes, I’m fully aware that there are people who work hard at trying to save money. Unfortunately they are in the minority ?

Oh yes, MeryStreep
DH did contract work for a nationalised company and the waste and self-indulgence of some top managers was astonishing.

There was a lot of publicity about the useless PPE at the time. I'm amazed that it seems to have passed you all by. Some of it was below standard, some of it was not to the NHS specifications, like masks with ear loops rather than tying at the back of the head. Some of it was just desperately over ordered, stuff that would take, even at the pandemic rate of use, 20 or 30 years to use up.

And yes, PPE goes out of date. Half the problem was the fact that our 'emergency stocks', which had been contracted out to a private company to maintain, hadn't been properly rotated and was already out of date. That's why our NHS staff were so badly served for PPE in the early months that nurses and careworkers were wearing bin bags...

I'm sure all you thrifty souls would have managed it far better but unfortunately the procurement team didn't consult you. And you wouldn't have stood a chance if you weren't in the VIP lane.

Been reading a bit about "defective" and "unsuitable" since my last post and in general it all looks like rather a cock up.

I'd love to know more about why use-by dates are necessary on PPE items though.

Thanks for the info about improper rotation, maiz. That makes sense of a sort.

There was a lot of publicity about the useless PPE at the time. I'm amazed that it seems to have passed you all by. Some of it was below standard, some of it was not to the NHS specifications, like masks with ear loops rather than tying at the back of the head.

I remember.

I've not seen anyone in the NHS wearing a mask that ties at the back of the head, though, all seem to be wearing the ones with loops.

I'm sure all you thrifty souls would have managed it far better but unfortunately the procurement team didn't consult you. And you wouldn't have stood a chance if you weren't in the VIP lane.
They did manage to organise proverbial booze-ups in wherever though, so how did they get this so wrong?

Can this stuff not be sold on the Internet for less demanding situations?

Pardon my naivety, but surely the suppliers of sub standard PPE should be forced to refund the cost to the purchaser? If I buy a coat from Next and the seams split I get a refund.

Is it substandard because it rips, tears, is shoddy and is unsafe?

Or is it substandard because it's not up to a certain requirement - is it Kitemark? - and was ordered without full checks on what was required?

Kitemark, Callistemon ! What century are you living in...

It's all CE (EU standard) at the moment and has been for years, but Things Will Change because of Brexit and sovrintee.

I have no idea about NHS standards, use by dates or anything else, I'm just recalling what I read at the time.

What I don't understand is that for a contract you need a specification. If the spec is not met then surely you would not pay out? Apparently £21 million was paid to a Spanish middle man. For what exactly? Why can't some of this money be reclaimed? Talking billions.