Supply of 400k medical gowns flown from Turkey deemed unfit
A SHIPMENT of 400,000 medical gowns from Turkey has been impounded in a warehouse after falling short of UK standards, the Northern Ireland Secretary has said.
The personal protective equipment (PPE) was flown into the UK by the RAF last month but has not been released to NHS staff after inspectors deemed the gowns unsafe for guarding against coronavirus when treating patients.
The Government is now seeking a replacement or refund.
Secretary of State Brandon Lewis said the gowns turned out to “not be of the quality that we feel is good enough for our frontline staff ”.
The confirmation of the decision to impound the imported goods is another blow in what has proved an embarrassing episode for the Government and its efforts to procure PPE.
Despite Downing Street’s boasts about a large haul of PPE coming from Turkey last month, the shipment was delayed by a number of days and the RAF had to be mobilised to bring the cargo to Britain, arriving at RAF Brize Norton on April 22.
Number 10 was later warned by health care procurement experts not to promise PPE by specific dates if it could not deliver.
Mr Lewis has now confirmed, more than two weeks after their arrival, that the gowns do not meet UK standards.
He refused to disclose just how much money was spent on them.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Lewis said: “When we’re securing PPE from around the world you do it based on a set of standards that you’re looking to acquire to, but obviously once it’s here we check that it is good enough for what we want to use, and in this instance some of this PPE turned out not to be good enough.
“There was a view that it was good enough PPE, it is only when it has got here that teams have looked at it again and taken a view that it is not up to the right standard and they’ve decided not to use it.”