Getting rid of faulty PPE costs British taxpayers £107,500 every day

02 June 2024 , 00:42

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Boxes of PPE are having to be thrown away after being deemed unfit for use by the NHS (Image: Getty Images)

Getting rid of useless medical gear ordered during the pandemic is costing us £107,500 a day.

Taxpayers face a £29million bill over nine months to destroy duff personal protective equipment. The cash could pay for 2,678 heart bypasses or 1,271 more nurses.

Millions of sub-standard PPE items were ordered in haste – including masks, gloves and aprons – and the Department of Health is expected to pay £28.9m to ditch them from April 6 to December 31.

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That is on top of £42m spent last year. Details emerged in a Freedom of Information request by Labour’s Siobhain McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden. She said: “It’s a shocking waste. We are still paying the cost of a Tory government. I’m just thankful we have a General Election and the chance of a fresh start.”

More than seven billion units of PPE bought for medical staff were deemed unfit for the NHS and 1.2 billion items unfit for any setting.

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Health chiefs are still paying millions to store it and are trying to cut that cost by disposing of it – with commercial waste firms paid to dispose of 15,000 pallets a month.

A Public Accounts Committee report found the Department of Health lost 75% of the £12billion it spent on PPE in the first year of the pandemic to inflated prices and kit that did not meet requirements.

Its chairwoman, Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, said: “The story of PPE purchasing is perhaps the most shameful episode of the UK government response to the pandemic.

A Department of Health source said it could not comment due to rules now an election has been called.

Andy Buckwell