LIFESAVING-saving supplies of PPE were delayed at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as supply chains failed while councils combated conmen selling unsafe products.

A stark report to Dudley Council has revealed that while government stocks failed more than 90 per cent of offers to sell personal protective equipment to West Midlands authorities were ‘spurious’.  

Examples of how conmen tried to cash in included demanding pre-payment for items that were never delivered and using false certificates to ‘prove’ products met safety standards. 

Saying Dudley Council now has sufficient stocks of genuine PPE, the report shows how unscrupulous companies tried to profit out of a worldwide shortage of life-saving equipment.  

Proposing a series of recommendations to prepare for a second outbreak, Rose Younger, Dudley’s director of commercial and customer services, said that in December 2019 council officers were told supplies of PPE would meet national flu pandemic stocks.

But by March this year, NHS trusts and councils were forced to compete with each other to get the supplies.

In a report to Dudley’s Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee, Ms Younger says: “As the pandemic took hold and the national supply chain failed, it quickly became clear that sufficient PPE was not available in the UK supply chain, and would not be for some time. There seemed to be no automatic, national, organised, prompt response to the urgent need for PPE.

“In the early days (March 2020) of the pandemic the main requirement was for compliant fluid resistant masks, gloves and aprons. Due to the delay in commencing PPE procurement we were then competing with the NHS, and every other council to obtain PPE.

“Prices rose exponentially as a result of the massive and sudden increase in demand and the inability of the national system to supply.”

The lack of PPE suppliers saw prices rocket with complaints that companies were price gouging care homes desperate to protect their staff and residents.

In April, the Local  Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) highlighted the case of one Wednesbury care provider which saw prices increases by almost 10,000 percent. 

Karl Silvester, Awarding Care’s registered manager, said his company was forced to approach alternative suppliers after its normal provider had been told it could only sell to the NHS.

He said: “We have gone out to the market and been quoted £15 for box of hundred gloves that normally sells at £2-3 and £2 each for a plastic apron.

“They are usually two pence each.”

In response to the critical shortages Dudley and neighbouring local authorities joined forces to buy body bags, face masks, gloves, hand sanitiser and aprons with each council specialising in set items and checking suppliers were legitimate.

But Ms Younger added: “Unfortunately, crises always create opportunities for fraud, and encourages profit seeking fraudsters to enter markets. We became inundated with offers of PPE from spurious local, national and international suppliers. The work required to establish veracity of these offers was significant and detracted from the work required to procure compliant PPE.”

Saying over 90 per cent proved ‘spurious’, and many included falsified certificates, she said officers were forced to check documentation with an international agency based in Hong Kong.

In addition deliveries often never happened: “There were a number of occasions when stock that we were awaiting delivery of was appropriated by the NHS or National Government (we are not sure which). 

“It seems that there was some ‘shifting’ of supplies once goods were in the country. We had no explanations or prior notice of this appropriation. In addition, we had some deliveries that never materialised. 

“We are not sure whether this was fraud (i.e. an attempt to gain payment without providing the goods) or appropriation.”

In her report, Ms Younger reserves her most damning criticism for the national system of local resilience forum supplies which was meant to ensure hospitals, councils and care homes had the stocks they needed.

She says: “The national system was woeful in the early stages of the pandemic. Faulty items were supplied (goggles) and had to be disposed of. Out of date masks were supplied and had been ‘over stickered’ a number of times but even so were out of date. 

“The failure of the national system could have resulted in very serious consequences – it should be noted that the situation was salvaged by Local Government.

“Similarly Dudley’s PPE situation was rescued as a result of our procurement team ceasing all normal procurement activity and focussing all its efforts on PPE focus, along with the West Midlands collaboration of the Heads of Procurement.”

In response to Ms Younger’s report Cllr Simon Phipps, Dudley’s cabinet member responsible for procurement, said: “By working with other local authorities across the region we were able to order quantities at scale, positioning ourselves strongly in the marketplace and allowing us to pool and share resources. 

“This was a much more effective way of procuring essential PPE than if we had all gone out on our own and I’m really proud of how we pulled staff in to deliver this.

“We’ve always had robust procurement processes in place, in this case we had to deal with a massive and sudden increase in demand which we managed effectively. 

“We have made sure that our staff and partners have had access to a supply of stocks right through from the onset of the pandemic to now. 

“Thankfully, the use of the regional procurement system meant we were able to weed out fraudulent suppliers and did not do business with them. We only did business with suppliers who passed all of our rigorous checks. 

“We have spent £1m on PPE to date with a further £1m allocated for the future. While this is essentially for our own requirements including council staff and visitors to buildings, care homes, care providers, schools and voluntary sector partners, it also means we can supply public sector partners in an emergency. ​The proactive stance taken by this authority means we are ready should there be an increase in cases and we are in a position to assist key partners too.” 

Councillors were due to discuss the report and its recommendations at a meeting today (September 3).