Ppe Waste

[Gromit]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cll476qzm85o
 

A shocking waste.

[douglas9401]

'Shocking waste' stops at £50 million, this is an abomination and evidence of extreme ineptitude, incompetence and no oversight and minions run wild with the credit card.

I wonder if information on donations will come from the now Channel Islands based outfit. 'Privacy reasons' over gloves and facemasks may have tongues wagging.

[bhg481]

Which is worse, over-ordering and anding up with waste or under-ordering and ending up with disease?

[douglas9401]

We already had disease so, the former.

Maybe ask the nightly experts on behaviour and science to cough up a few bob since their doom-laden spraffing was the cause of the over-reaction in the first place.

This was NOT bubonic plague.

[ToraToraTora]

The whole lock down thing, PPE etc was a completely unnecessary folly. Encouraged by so called experts and welcomed by people like you gromit.

[dave50]

Never again will I be fooled into such draconian restrictions by government whatever the reason.

[Hymie]

There are people who have posted on here how well they think the government handled the covid pandemic (and how well it went) – imagine how badly their personal life must be going to be of that view.

[naomi24]

Hymie, how on earth can an opinion of what at the time was a complete unknown reflect upon anyone's personal life?  That's totally irrational.  Explain that to me please.

[Hymie]

Partying away in Downing St.; VIP lanes awarding multiple PPE contracts worth over £100 million to their Tory mates (who’d never been involved in the supply of PPE) much of which was unsuitable for use; 1000s of care home deaths resulting from untested patients being discharged from hospital – I could go on and on.

[naomi24]

I've no doubt you could go on - in fact you do go on - relentlessly - but you haven't answered my question.

[douglas9401]

Don't tell her, Pike.

[Hymie]

It was not unknown that partying away was not a good idea, any fool would know it not a good idea to buy PPE from someone who’d just set up the company a few days before (and had never supplied such equipment) and that as we had the ability to test for the virus – any fool would know not to send untested patients to care homes.

[naomi24]

What does any of that have to do with the private lives of anyone who holds an opinion that disagrees with yours, hymie?  Let me help you out.  Nothing.  

[Hymie]

To believe a government doing those things, was doing well – logically things in their own life must be going much worse (and they must be making equally bad or worse decisions, affecting their life).

[naomi24]

That isn't logical though.  They know what's required in their own lives - when Covid struck no one had any real idea - not even the 'experts' - of how serious it would be or what would be needed.  That's why the Nightingale Wards were hastily constructed - and remained pratically unused.  You're not logical, hymie, not one bit. 

[New Judge]

"Never again will I be fooled into such draconian restrictions by government whatever the reason."

I imagine quite a few of us will take that stance, dave. The problem is many of the restricions imposed were visted on businesses rather than individuals. So although people were free to go out and about (provided they had a "reasonable excuse", which could mean just about anything) the places they might like to visit (pubs, restaurants, many "non-essential" shops, entertainment venues, etc.) were forcibly closed. So in the event of a recurrence and the government of the day does lose its marbles like the one in 2020 did, people may well say "up yours", but they would still be very much restricted in their everyday lives.

"To believe a government doing those things, was doing well – logically things in their own life must be going much worse (and they must be making equally bad or worse decisions, affecting their life)."

I don't think I quite agree with that, Hymie. The strategy of the government was to scare people into compliance. There is plenty of evidence of that. Not everybody thought things through for themselves but instead relied on politicians to guide them. When we have discussed other topics, you know my often quoted view that the very last people you should listen to before making an important decision are politicians (of any persuasion). Unfortunately not everybody is like that, so their decisions are heavily swayed by politicians, whom they mistakenly believed during the pandemic, had weighed up all the pros and cons and who therefore knew best. It follows on from that they also probably believe the government is doing a good job and opinion polls at the time (IIRC) showed that opinion to dominate.

When the particular topic of PPE arises it is often overlooked that it is NHS directors and managers who should have ensured that their various Trusts, departments etc. were prepared for a pandemic. They didn't and they were therefore at the mercy of the various spivs and chancers that crawled from the woodwork. The question that really needs to be addressed (and probably won't be when the Covid enquiry reports in about two years time) is that if the spivs and chancers managed to secure supplies of PPE, why couldn't the NHS directors and managers? 

[douglas9401]

"... if the spivs and chancers managed to secure supplies of PPE, why couldn't the NHS directors and managers?"

 

Because just as in their 'peacetime' roles they're shown to be at best over-promoted and at worst completely incompetent and useless.

[New Judge]

"Because just as in their 'peacetime' roles they're shown to be at best over-promoted and at worst completely incompetent and useless."

Completely agree, duggie. That's why the NHS needs demolishing and reforming on a proper commercial basis. I've had the unfortunate necessity to get involved with the NHS over the past few months, helping a relative secure treatment. Its incompetence and disorganisation is breathtaking, with even the simplest of arrangements degenerating into a farce. This is nothing to do with lack of funds or people. There are staff aplenty but the entire shooting match is  simply badly organised to such a degree that it is a wonder anything gets done at all.

This is not the faul of individual members of staff. They do heir best despite the best efforts of their managers to make it difficult for them. These problems should be addressed by directors and managers (of which there are also plenty). I've no idea what they spend their days doing. But it isn't making sure their departments run smoohly and efficiently and it wasn't enuring they were prepared for a pandemic four or five years ago.

[Old_Geezer]

What is worse is buying with public money that which wasn't needed in the first place. Did they mention who profited from the sell and what relationship they had with those involved with the purchase ?

[Old_Geezer]

There are people on here whose posts, telling "the world" what was wrong at the time, are still here to be read should anyone who has forgotten wish to search for them.

[Gromit]

// BBC Investigations made a series of requests over a six-month period under the Freedom of Information Act to NHS Supply Chain, which manages the delivery of healthcare products. //

// The government previously estimated that £85m worth of PPE secured under the contract would not be used, which is approximately 6% of the true total. //