The Public Accounts Committee has given the Department of Health and Social Care two months to report back with a plan to ensure personal protective equipment (PPE) provision during a second COVID-19 spike.
The influential group of MPs said they were 'extremely concerned' by PPE shortages faced by NHS and care workers during the first wave of the pandemic in the UK.
According to the DHSC it never ran out of stock of PPE but rather Covid-19 had 'put supply chains and distribution networks under unprecedented strain', posing challenges with ensuring the right equipment was at the right place at the right time.
BMA council chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: 'We may be past the first peak of this virus, but we should be under no illusion that the demand for PPE is over – especially as the NHS begins to manage the huge backlog of demand caused by the pandemic, all under tighter infection control measures.'
In light of the threat of a second wave of Covid-19 doctors and colleagues 'need cast-iron guarantees from Government that the failures of the past months will not be repeated, that there will be enough of the right PPE and that it will be properly tested, quality-controlled and safe to use', Dr Nagpaul added.
Source: Pulse, 8 July 2020
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