Arco chairman Thomas Martin has told parliament of his PPE frustrations at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Hull business boss, infuriated by the supply chain issues as frontline workers clamoured for face masks, gloves and other vital equipment to keep coronavirus at bay, appeared before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday.
He was giving evidence to the government inquiry into the handling of the unprecedented situation.
Mr Martin outlined the company’s frustration in the procurement system set up by the Government at the start of the pandemic, and explained how Arco went on to respond directly to approaches from NHS trusts for critical PPE.
He then told of the learnings from the last year and made key recommendations for future pandemic preparedness, urging the Government to uphold the 海角视频’s high safety standards.
Speaking after the session, Mr Martin said: “We were proud to do our part as a constructive partner to the NHS, to central government and to the care system across the 海角视频. We know that the PPE procurement structures have been through an unprecedented level of stress over the past year – for us, this meant frustration at times, and led to otherwise avoidable complications.
“Throughout, our focus has been on – and remains – supplying the highest quality PPE to support the delivery of the pandemic response, and we hope that our insights into our experiences in doing so can help build a more resilient structure as Covid recedes and we prepare for the next potential pandemic.
“We understand that DHSC and its partners had to build a new system from scratch and scale it up at pace – but unfortunately doesn’t offset the fact that the central PPE supplier portal did not function as intended. We saw situations whereby we knew that we had stock that was needed but received no response to offers and no central guidance about where it should be directed – with incredibly limited and sporadic uptake of those offers we did make.
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“With our track record in supporting public health responses to serious outbreaks - including Ebola, SARS and Foot and Mouth - this was a disorientating and frustrating situation for us.
“While we were able to offer our support more broadly across the NHS and social care systems directly, at a time when there was a clear demand for huge volumes of protective equipment, it seemed unusual that we were not able to provide more support than we did.”
Touching on the cronyism allegations that have dogged government’s handling of the crisis, Mr Martin added: “Much has been made of VIP lanes and influence over the past few weeks – all we know is that we had a constructive relationship with commercial contacts across Government, and offered our services as a market leading expert provider.
"Like many trapped in the system, we attempted to reach out to those holding the levers across Whitehall, but without success. Fast-tracks and ministerial lanes are as much news to us as to the rest of the 海角视频 – we certainly did not benefit from any special arrangements.”
Arco published a position paper at the end of 2020, with constituency MP Emma Hardy flagging it up from the opposition benches.
It proposes a 10-point set of recommendations to prevent a repeat of the high-profile issues that were seen during the first wave to ensure the country is better protected in any future pandemic.
It recognises that hundreds of millions of pounds has been wasted on poor quality PPE that cannot be used for the intended purpose.
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Arco has also urged Government to consult on requiring PPE suppliers to formally register to supply Category II and III products – which would ensure that a supplier is capable of providing compliant product - while also intensifying market surveillance by an empowered Office for Product Safety and Standards to ensure suppliers live up to their paper commitments.
Mr Martin added: “You can do PPE procurement in a cost-effective, safe way, but you must not do it on the cheap. We are disappointed to hear that defective product made it into our PPE ecosystem over the past year – and even more so that it made it into the hands of front-line NHS workers.
"Government must recognise the gaps in the product safety and surveillance system and move to tackle them before we bed in a culture of low-effort, low-quality provision at a time when we should be focussing on scaling up manufacturing capacity and on-shoring our PPE sector.
“The 海角视频 is well recognised globally for its expertise in this area – we have an opportunity to lead the world in bringing home PPE manufacturing and keep standards high in doing so. We are glad that the National Audit Office is looking closely into these failures, and I hope that the Public Accounts Committee and central government will look seriously at the culture that we are allowing to flourish.”