UK 'wasted' £10bn on PPE that left NHS staff dangerously exposed, inquiry finds
Image: BBC News
Britain threw away almost £10bn on protective equipment that often failed to keep frontline NHS staff safe, the official Covid inquiry has found — one of the most damning verdicts yet on the country's handling of the pandemic.
Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett criticised the "vast" waste in procurement, put at £9.9bn — two-thirds of the £14.9bn the government spent on masks, gowns and gloves. When home-testing kits and ventilators are included, total spending between January 2020 and June 2022 exceeded £42bn.
The UK entered the pandemic with its emergency stockpile in a perilous state. Only a third of the masks in England's stockpile were usable, the inquiry found, while Scotland had no supplies of the high-grade respiratory masks used in hospitals.
Care homes, GP surgeries and pharmacies were all expected to source their own PPE — a gap the report branded a "major failure in planning," as demand from hospitals soared and supplies ran out by the end of March 2020.
Why it matters: Behind the eye-watering sums are the people who wore the equipment. Thousands of health and care workers fell ill or died after exposure to Covid, and the inquiry paints a picture of a system that left them exposed while billions were spent on kit that did not work.
Hallett also took aim at the controversial "VIP lane," which fast-tracked PPE offers from those with political connections, calling it a "misguided policy that should not be repeated" — though she said there was "no evidence of cronyism or corruption" by ministers when final contracts were awarded.
What's next: The findings will intensify pressure on the government to reform how it buys emergency supplies, and keep alive painful questions about accountability for a procurement disaster that cost taxpayers tens of billions and, for many families, everything.