Overcharging for PPE is ‘threatening care sector’

COMPANIES have been accused of “daylight robbery” for raising the price of crucial protective supplies such as face masks and sanitiser gels as high as 1,000 per cent.

The care sector yesterday warned they faced ruin due to the rising cost, with facilities hit by shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE).

One of the country’s leading social care charities said the rising prices have come at a time providers are using twice the usual amount of PPE, including gloves, aprons and face masks.

“Gloves, they are up by 30 per cent in price; aprons, they are up by 166 per cent; but, most strikingly, we’ve seen a typical price increase for a standard pack of masks go up by over 1,000 per cent,” said Mark Adams, head of Community Integrated Care.

Safety fears over PPE shortages are already plaguing hospitals on the front line of the outbreak, but care homes fear their needs are being overlooked.

Last week, it emerged nursing, residential homes and other care providers only received 300 masks each, described by the National Care Association as “inadequate”.

The need for appropriate equipment is particularly acute in the care sector as it looks after many of the most vulnerable, who are at gravest risk.

The association, the voice of the independent care sector, told The Daily Telegraph that access to PPE was “the most challenging of the issues facing social care providers”.

A spokesman added: “They are making every effort to ensure their residents and staff are safe and the only way to do this is for them to have PPE.

“When they are trying to source PPE they are either being told it has been diverted to NHS or they are having to pay much more for it, which they do. It is an unsustainable situation.”

Hand sanitiser gel is now also being sold at a premium. Katrina Green, who runs Bay Care Domiciliary Care in Paignton, Devon, told the BBC: “They are ripping us off, it’s daylight robbery at the moment, it’s terrible. Normally we can get five litres of gel for £19 and the cost at the moment is £179.”

Private care home providers are increasingly being forced to turn to councils to ask for financial help in the face of rising equipment costs.

The County Councils Network told The Telegraph: “Authorities have begun to set aside substantial sums of money to help out. The Government’s £1.6 billion for virus-related expenditure may be insufficient.”