Exclusive: Channel 4 News has seen the inventory of the UK government pandemic PPE stockpile - and can reveal almost 80% of respirators were out of date when coronavirus hit.
Watch the full investigation at 7pm tonight, on Channel 4 News.
Watch the full investigation at 7pm tonight, on Channel 4 News.
In total, around 200m pieces of kit - including respirators and masks - had expired in the eight months beforehand.
This included 21m out-of-date respirators, from a total of 26 million. And more than half of the national stockpile of surgical facemasks had also expired.
This included 21m out-of-date respirators, from a total of 26 million. And more than half of the national stockpile of surgical facemasks had also expired.
Expired stock is excluded from distribution, meaning millions of boxes of kit could have been delayed from being sent to hospitals - just as the virus began to spread.
Millions of expired respirators weren’t cleared for release until PPE shortages peaked, between 10-19 March.
Millions of expired respirators weren’t cleared for release until PPE shortages peaked, between 10-19 March.
There are also questions over whether expired PPE offers the same level of protection. Channel 4 News has seen a copy of guidance that says respirators past their shelf life should not be used.
The documents show a failure by Public Health England and NHS Supply Chain’s management company, Supply Chain Coordination Limited, to maintain the stockpile in a state of readiness.
Responding to our investigation, a government spokesperson said: “The UK is one of the most prepared countries in the world and we have delivered more than 1 billion items of PPE since this global outbreak began.”
The spokesperson added: “This is an unprecedented pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it, guided at all times by the best scientific advice, to protect the NHS and save lives.”
Watch our full investigation on Channel 4 News - tonight at 7pm.
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