The chairman of safety specialist Arco has hit out at the government’s PPE procurement handling after hearing how an £8.7 billion loss has been written off.
Thomas Martin, who heads up the fifth generation family firm, labelled it disappointing, and urged Westminster to learn vital lessons - starting with the Hull firm’s position paper.
The £320 million turnover market leader was ignored as the pandemic hit the UK - with the likes of face masks and gloves left on the shelves of a huge new distribution centre as the frontline was found wanting.
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VIP lanes and overseas orders emerged, rendering procured items unfit or not received.
Mr Martin, who gave evidence to the inquiry into the response, said: “Arco is disappointed to read the details of the accounts published by the Department for Health and Social Care regarding the amount of PPE procured during the pandemic that will now be written off.
“We understand that this £8.7 billion cost is as a result of the Government buying equipment that was not fit-for-purpose, paying increased prices in a competitive global market and purchasing products that subsequently had passed their expiry date.
“Of most concern was the £2.6 billion that was spent on PPE not suitable for use in the NHS.
“Whilst we appreciate there was an urgent requirement for PPE for frontline responders at the beginning of the pandemic and that the Government was facing unprecedented and challenging circumstances, we still believe that, with our track record in sourcing, emergency planning and distribution of PPE, the Government could have engaged more proactively with Arco to benefit from our expert knowledge to support the process.
“We still feel that there are important lessons to learn from what went wrong and we have produced a position paper ‘Personal Protective Equipment and the Government’s Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic’ in which we share our own experiences during the pandemic but, more importantly, we propose a 10-point set of recommendations that could help prevent a repeat of the issues that are now coming to light.
“Arco remains ready and willing to work with the Government and its agencies to ensure that we are better protected for any future emergencies.”
Last month’s High Court ruling that the VIP fast-track lane for awarding PPE contracts to those with political connections was unlawful was also welcomed by the business - a key responder in the last SARS outbreak.
A spokesperson added: “We have seen examples of PPE supply contracts being awarded opaquely to organisations with no history or experience of PPE manufacture and supply, who were ultimately unable to fulfil orders as they had imported inappropriate or non-compliant products, increasing the risk to the public, care home staff and NHS workers.
“We at Arco have always felt that it was important to learn from what went wrong and to take steps to rectify these.”
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