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Government spent £10bn extra on inflated PPE, report finds
Health workers wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE) tend to a patient on the intensive care unit (ICU) at Whiston Hospital in Merseyside
THE government spent £10 billion extra in inflated prices for Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) due to an inadequate stockpile and a surge in global demand, a report has concluded.
And of the 32 billion items procured between February and July, only 2.6bn were delivered to front-line organisations in that period, the National Audit Office (NAO) said, with demand so high in April and May that stock levels were “negligible” for most types of protection.
The Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC) paid 166 per cent more for respirator masks and 1,300 per cent more for body bags during the pandemic’s first wave this year compared with 2019.
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