May 1

The availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health and care staff, as well as during the Covid-19 pandemic has become one of The Most intensively discussed problems of The Crisis

Doctors, nurses and care staff in many settings warned that inventories were running low and they were worried about their safety.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has now published, of the supply and distribution of PPE in England by state organizations.

It highlights shortcomings in The System , although The Department of Health and Social Care has said that parts of The Report are "misleading".

The NAO report on the state of preparation of the NHS and social care in England, stating that the only stock available to to increase in demand for PPE in the early stages of the Corona-Virus was outbreak, which was built in anticipation of a pandemic flu crisis.

the key is not included dresses, or visors. According to the NAO, the government's New and emerging Respiratory virus Advisory Group (NERVTAG) recommended stocking dresses in June 2019.

The Department of health said the NAO, the "procurement of robes was planned for the beginning of 2020".

The NAO report looks at the assumptions in Whitehall modeling for PPE requirements in a "Worst Case scenario".

Between mid-March and the beginning of may, it means the amount of face masks, and clinical waste bags for use in health care settings distributed from the Central stocks exceeded the modeled condition, but for all other items, such as clothes, eye protectors, and aprons, it was lower.

For the social care, the spread positions, all of which were less than the modeled requirement, with gloves and eye protectors it was under 10%.

The NAO adds that the feedback from local providers revealed reported by a large majority, that the PSA was an issue with "a high or significant disruptive impact in their field as well as health and social services".

The Department of Health's argument for the NAO was that the NHS and social care organisations could buy you your own PSA was sent to the top, to what is available from Central stocks.

A spokesman said: "We have delivered over 1. 7 billion pieces of the PSA and we will continue to ensure that the supply to the Front.

"of The modeled PSA requirements in this report, the theoretical worst-case estimates are presented - it is misleading to compare them to the numbers on the Central raised PSA, which is not supplied to the equipment through other means, or locally available stocks. "

The Report paints a picture of the confusion about the extent to which the local NHS and care organisations were responsible for securing their own supplies of PPE in a time of global shortages in an unprecedented pandemic.

the Central government opened a dedicated Central supply route in early April, but for a while officials struggled to adequate stocks.

1. In may, The Department of Health wrote to NHS trusts say: the PPE was administered centrally, and hospitals should only provide your own sourcing of new suppliers on-site.

By The Middle of the month, says the NAO, the Central demand from the health and care area supplied by the PSA met.

Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hiller said that the government had to add "The Last Chance to apply to the headquarters of the PSA dump, even according to the NHS the highest alarm. "

she added: "the nursing homes were at the back of the queue for both the PSA and the Tests, so that only a fraction of what they needed from the Central government. Residents and staff of an afterthought once more: out of sight, out of mind " - with devastating consequences. "

The PSA debate is not the way to go.

The Bbc highlighted some of the issues in the NAO report.

It can take a while to emerge, the whole story, including an assessment of how the UK authorities supplied the treated PSA to acquire procurement a time when all the world's leading healthcare had to fight The System to. The NAO report is certainly an interesting early contribution to this debate.

Source of news: bbc.com