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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rachel Hall and Denis Campbell

Department of Health wasted £15bn on unused Covid supplies, watchdog finds

Department of Health DHSC UKHSA Covid-19 NAO National Audit Office NHS ​​Rishi Sunak Whitehall Department for Health and Social Care
Boxes of face masks are unloaded from a plane bearing the logo ‘Thank you NHS’
The £15bn waste revealed in DHSC accounts include writedowns on PPE, vaccines and Covid medicines and unusable supplies. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

The Department of Health has wasted a total of £15bn on unused personal protective equipment, Covid tests and vaccines, prompting heavy criticism from the Whitehall spending watchdog.

The department spent £8.9bn during 2020-21 and another £6bn last year on such supplies, including masks and gowns for NHS staff that have proved unuseable and are now being burned.

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