Value for Money
The supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published 25 November 2020
6 recommendations
Department of Health and Social Care
Commercial and financial managementCOVID-19Health and social careProcurement and contract managementPublic healthResilienceRisk and resilience
nao.org.uk
This report examines the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) as part of the government’s response to COVID-19 in 2020.
Recommendations (6)
Source: NAO Recommendations Tracker · PAC follow-up below
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 1
Partially Accepted
No Longer Relevant
The Department and its partners had to oversee and take many unplanned and unprecedented actions to obtain PPE during the emergency. Inevitably, some actions were more successful than others. A comprehensive lessons-learned exercise involving all the main stakeholders, including local government and representatives of the workforce and suppliers, would inform the planning for future emergencies. This should include: consideration of whether any issues with PPE provision or use might have contributed to COVID-19 infections or deaths; how to determine the priorities when there are shortages of essential equipment such as PPE; and, how events are recorded during an emergency response to help learn lessons for the future.
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 2
Accepted
Implemented
Business-as-usual activities within government need to strike the appropriate balance between operational and financial efficiency versus the longer-term need for resilience and capability for dealing with shocks. For PPE, this includes consideration of the cost implications of, and incentives needed for, developing and maintaining a domestic manufacturing base and increasing diversity in international supply.
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 3
Accepted
Implemented
Emergency plans for dealing with a pandemic must provide for appropriate stockpiles of high-quality PPE together with comprehensive and resilient arrangements for the rapid procurement and distribution of PPE, based on reliable information. Plans need to include distribution of PPE to social care and all parts of the health system. Organisations responsible for maintaining and testing their plans must actively monitor for new threats that might overwhelm their plans.
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 4
Partially Accepted
Implemented
Effective governance, lines of accountability, and resourcing responsibilities are important for an effective rapid-response in an emergency situation. Developing these arrangements, and ensuring that they remain up to date, should be part of the emergency plan for activation when required.
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 5
Accepted
Implemented
Clear, timely, two-way information and communication are vital for both providing services at the front-line and for managing the response at the national level. This includes information on national and local PPE stocks and requirements, and feedback loops. Deficiencies in information on, and communication about, PPE can lead to a breakdown of trust, failure to take effective action, and poor value for money.
Department of Health and Social Care
Rec 6
Partially Accepted
Implemented
Despite efforts to integrate them over the years, health and social care have continued to be separate systems. During this crisis the social care sector was hit hard by shortages of PPE, and government needs to understand why national bodies provided more support to hospitals than to social care and how to prevent that happening again.
Parliamentary Committee Follow-Up
The Public Accounts Committee examined this NAO report and published its own recommendations. The government responds to PAC recommendations via Treasury Minutes.
Forty-Second Report - COVID-19: Government procurement and supply of Personal Protective Equipment
Public Accounts Committee
· 10 February 2021
· 20 recommendations