Full Fact have responded to Matthew Hancock who appeared on the Today… programme. Health Secretary Matthew Hancock claimed there has never been a national shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic. He said this was the conclusion of the National Audit Office, which published a report on PPE supply in November last year.
But the truth is more complicated. The NAO did not equivocally say there was a national shortage, nor did they say there wasn’t one.
Responding to Mr Hancock’s comments, a spokesperson for the NAO told Full Fact that “provider organisations we spoke to told us that while they were concerned about the low stocks of PPE, they were always able to get what they needed in time.”
However, they also noted that “this was not the experience reported by many frontline workers. Feedback from care workers, doctors and nurses show that significant numbers of them considered that they were not adequately protected during the height of the first wave of the pandemic.”
They also wrote in November that “demand for PPE was so high in April and May that stock levels were negligible for most types of PPE.”
And just in case anyone still believes him:
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