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Tue, 14 Jul 2026

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 UK wasted £10bn on PPE that left NHS staff poorly protected, Covid inquiry finds

Healthcare staff were unable to properly protect themselves, or those in their care, from dangerous infections, says the latest inquiry report.

* The Covid inquiry has found that the UK government wasted almost £10bn of taxpayers' money on personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic.
* The report criticises the "VIP lane" which prioritised PPE offers from those with political connections, but finds no evidence of cronyism or corruption by ministers or officials.
* The inquiry also found that the UK's emergency stockpile of PPE was running out by March 2020 and that many masks in England's stockpile were unusable.
* A total of £42.8bn was spent on PPE and other equipment between January 2020 and June 2022, with £9.9bn worth being written off as unused or outdated.
* The report concludes that better planning would have resulted in fairer, faster and less costly procurement decisions.
* Recommendations include a "radical overhaul" of the emergency system for buying PPE and distributing it before the next pandemic.
* The Prime Minister's Spokeswoman said the report made for difficult reading and that the government is committed to learning the lessons of the Covid inquiry.