I can understand a problem with new equipment (ventilators etc that mey never be needed), but not PPE - surely, if the PPE is rotated (FIFO) by date, then you can overstock without necessarily having waste.
There were huge amounts of PPE bought and paid for that was never able to be used as it was unsuitable. There were apparently containers full of it stacked up on a former aerodrome in Suffolk … not far from Harwich … heaven knows what happened to it … local press said they could get no information from anyone.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@steveTu before the pandemic the hospitals had sufficient PPE for day to day use but usage increased massively. They then had to buy in when everybody wanted it so purchased in bulk. The pandemic was brought under control much more quickly than most thought it would be, therefore the overstocking. I do wonder why items such as gowns and masks have a use by date. I presume there's a good reason.
Isn't like me and baked beans? The gov/health service had a pandemic working party a few years before covid hit, so PPE must have been part of that review. I buy beans when they're on offer, as I know they last - I just rotate the tins. Why would that have been so hard for the Gov/NHS - the cost of PPE went up throughj the roof - but they could have had supplies for 'n times' average use pre bought and still buy to replenish normal usage (ie being used on a daily basis) - as once bought, it's just a rotation issue (ie for me to buy 2000 tins of beans would be insane as I couldn't rotate them fast enough to keep them all in date). I'm not saying they would have had stock to cover the complete pandemic, but PPE shouldn't have been the panic that it was from the outset.
Isn't always sensible to keep x+y of things you repeatedly use? It's not overstocking if you use the items on a rotation (retailers call it stock rotation). It's not a weird or new concept. I have a larder, a freezer and bathroom cabinet that I use for that purpose - to buy cheaper and use later. All businesses do it when they can.
But we then used 10,000 fold and paid the going, inflated price. Presumably the pandemic review must have had some inkling as to what PPE usage would go to - and given what is know now, do you not think that holding stock and rotating that stock (even if on 500 times normal usage assuming that doesn't impact use by dates) would be sensible? Or else the next time a pandemic occurs, won't we be in the same boat (or do you think there could be a pandemic where massively additional PPE WASN'T required?).
NHS departments typically work to annual budgets, with penalties for overspending, and penalties for underspending ( it’s assumed that if you underspend, you didn’t need that much money, and next years budget is reduced ) I’m not aware that there is usually money unaccounted for to stockpile supplies for future use, let alone an emergency and unprecedented increase in requirements.
One of the lessons I take form the PPE shortages is that we in the UK and EU should not rely on the far east and Asis to manufacture all our goods. We need to keep skills and capacity at home so we can shift up a gear when needed.
I do remember there being companies specialising in clothing and costumes who offered to use their skills to supply PPE but were turned down by the UK govt. Politicians seem to have a built-in failure these days to see what's under their nose and act wisely.
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When you don't even know who's in the team
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I do remember there being companies specialising in clothing and costumes who offered to use their skills to supply PPE but were turned down by the UK govt. Politicians seem to have a built-in failure these days to see what's under their nose and act wisely.