I think the problem is that it is expected that, during a world-wide shortage of PPE, and an unforeseen requirement for PPE in Care Homes (the supply requirement went from a couple of hundred Trusts to over
58,000 organisations), there would/should be enought for everyone - this is a massive shift in requirements in a time of crisis, and a complex supply chain, mostly from overseas.
Could things have been done better - probably; does it help blaming people until we know the facts - probably not.
There have been shortfalls in lots of places - an example would be in Care Homes, where the group that my mum-in-law is in got supplies of PPE early in the crisis, whilst other Care Home organisations didn't; the other care homes shouldn't be blamed for not being as forward thinking as the one mum's in, because at the beginning very few people thought it would come to this. Should all the GP Surgeries, which are in effect private businesses, be blamed for not having ordered PPE equipment earlier?
In the vast complexity of Health and Social Care, whatever the Government does, it won't be enough - review afterwards, critique constructively during, but blaming is inappropriate at this stage, imho (especially without evidence, as in the comments about NHS managers).
From
the Times
Quote:
Why isn’t this enough to satisfy demand?
The government has acknowledged that distribution of the equipment remains a challenge. At the weekend Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that it was impossible to know when supplies of PPE would meet demand across the NHS and social care sectors. There are almost 1.6 million NHS staff and demand for PPE is at unprecedented levels. Many pieces of kit can only be used once or must be disposed of after a single session on a ward. Mr Hopson has said that supplies coming in from China have been “erratic”, with boxes labelled as containing gowns actually full of face masks and other equipment failing UK safety tests. “If everything had been flowing exactly as had been ordered and if all of the material had properly passed its safety test, there would not be an issue,” he said.
What about other countries?
The World Health Organisation has said that supplies of PPE are stretched across the globe as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It said that prices have surged, with the cost of surgical masks rising six-fold, some respirators trebling and gowns doubling. Supplies have been hampered by the fact that it can take months to produce and deliver supplies, meaning prices are inflated by some countries.
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