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Key items of personal protective equipment (PPE) were not included in the government’s pandemic stock when the coronavirus arrived in the UK, according to research.
BBC Panorama reported that dresses, visors, swabs and body bags were left out of the reserve when it was created in 2009. Some of the items are now in short supply.
A government spokesperson told the program that the expert committee that advises ministers on new and emerging respiratory virus threats, known as Nervtag, did not recommend storing swabs and body bags.
They said the pool was designed for a flu pandemic and that Covid-19 has a higher hospitalization rate.
However, Panorama reported that Nervtag said the dresses, one of the least-supplied items in the UK, should be purchased last June.
Professor John Ashton, a public health expert who previously criticized the government’s approach, said that failure to store some items meant that NHS staff were working without crucial equipment.
He told the program: “The consequence of not planning, not asking for the kit, not having stock, is that we are sending doctors, nurses, other health workers and social workers to the front line without the equipment to keep them safe.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Assistance said: “This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it, guided at all times by the best scientific advice.
“The government has been working around the clock to fight the coronavirus, delivering a strategy designed at all times to protect our NHS and save lives.”
