Murray urges lessons to be learned over Scottish Government PPE blunders

Liberal Democrat Scottish Affairs spokesperson Susan Murray has today commented on the publication of UK Covid-19 Inquiry – Module 5, which covers issues relating to the procurement of PPE and highlights a number of issues with Scottish Government prep work including:

• “Significant quantities of expired stock across a range of PPE types, meaning that equipment was unusable”

• “In Scotland, by April 2020, the stockpile [of PPE gowns] was very low: NHS National Services Scotland held less than one day’s worth of long-sleeved gowns and FFP3 masks and only two days’ worth of visors, with some NHS boards reporting shortages of PPE” despite planning exercises noting that availability of PPE would be a key part of the early response to a pandemic.

• Warnings that decisions to procure new equipment ought to have been made with greater urgency by Public Health England, the Clinical Countermeasures Board and the devolved administrations.

• “There were instances in the spring of 2020 in which hubs in Scotland lacked the resources, infrastructure and processes to manage the emergency distribution of PPE, becoming overwhelmed and leading to delays in distribution.”

• NHS National Services Scotland failed to publish contract award notices for 59 of 74 PPE direct award contracts (80%) within the 30-day deadline.

• auditing of health board intensive care unit ventilators and equipment having to be undertaken manually.

Susan Murray said:

“The Covid pandemic took over years of all our lives. There are a host of lessons here for both the Scottish and UK governments.

“It is especially damning that so much of Scotland’s stockpiled PPE had expired.

“The report is clear that the Scottish Government need to improve transparency, governance and accountability for procurement in an emergency. They should set out what actions they will take to Parliament so these can be scrutinised.

“The public will also expect to see Michelle Mone and others who took advantage of the pandemic rigorously pursued.”