British made PPE equipment now being shipped to Italy

Jedi boro

Jedi boro

Well-known member
Whatever side of he political divide you are on this is a national disgrace, how can we justify not taking uk made stuff when italy will.
 
Yes I am fairly sure one of the main reasons the UK are not buying our own manufactured stuff is because they are using countries where the goods are cheaper. China and Turkey just 2 examples. They are just using delaying and deflection tactics to avoid the truth. It really stinks. Companies have turnover issues and if the Govt wont decide they have no choice to sell somewhere else. Goods from China and Turkey will be cheaper so the tories are putting cost first It seems to me
 
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But it wasn’t money as these were shipment designed for the nhs but the Govt didn’t take them up on it. Hence the fact they are off to Italy.
 
What sort of PPE is it?
I'd imagine PPE encompasses many things and there will no doubt be more to the story than has been reported.
 
So the government haven't as yet got back to the bloke and he might have to sell it abroad.
A bit different from the government have said they don't want it.

I am no fan of this government, but I'd imagine that coordinating a national supply operation is a bit more complicated than just placing an order with someone for PPE because they have made it. Even from today's press conference it would appear that it is a military and bureaucratic operation.
 
dooderooni said:
So the government haven't as yet got back to the bloke and he might have to sell it abroad.
A bit different from the government have said they don't want it.

I am no fan of this government, but I'd imagine that coordinating a national supply operation is a bit more complicated than just placing an order with someone for PPE because they have made it. Even from today's press conference it would appear that it is a military and bureaucratic operation.
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Dood, that doesn't really tie in with what government ministers are saying. They say they didn't know about the british made PPE and asked for manufacturers to contact them. If you believe that then I despair.

Bare in mind this is not a one off either. This has been going on since the government asked for british m anufacturer what they could make and then completely ignored all but 2 of them.

I find the disengenuous answers coming from the government to be insulting, and as time moves on I am more and more convinced the current cabinet are not fit for purpose.
 
T
Laughing said:
Dood, that doesn't really tie in with what government ministers are saying. They say they didn't know about the british made PPE and asked for manufacturers to contact them. If you believe that then I despair.

Bare in mind this is not a one off either. This has been going on since the government asked for british m anufacturer what they could make and then completely ignored all but 2 of them.

I find the disengenuous answers coming from the government to be insulting, and as time moves on I am more and more convinced the current cabinet are not fit for purpose.
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The truth will lie somewhere in there I am sure. The need for massive amounts for PPE isn't going away any time soon so we simply don't know that we won't actually take up the stuff being manufactured here in the future.
I don't know what our PPE manufacturing base was like pre-pandemic, but I'd guess it wasn't anywhere near the levels of that available in the Far east. Lead times exist in all manufacturing chains and as I said, there will no doubt be a lot of paperwork for imported stuff that will mean that orders will have been placed long before the stuff arrives.
The government have made many mistakes in my view, but I'm not daft enough to think there aren't extenuating circumstances to a lot of these issues simply because they are at such a national level.
It's an off used phrase, but these are extraordinary times and the smallest lack of planning or the smallest delay is going to be amplified into a crisis if other factors impact on it as well.
 
dooderooni said:
So the government haven't as yet got back to the bloke and he might have to sell it abroad.
A bit different from the government have said they don't want it.

I am no fan of this government, but I'd imagine that coordinating a national supply operation is a bit more complicated than just placing an order with someone for PPE because they have made it. Even from today's press conference it would appear that it is a military and bureaucratic operation.
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But it’s now GONE to Italy so it’s now lost to the uk system. So it has gone
 
Yes Zorro, but by selling it off the company have now earned some revenue, freed up production capacity and can therefore keep producing stuff that is needed somewhere in the world, be it here or abroad.

We failed to prepare as a country, I won't argue with that, and we are now playing catch-up to get these mechanisms in place and working properly. It would be great if we could buy up every piece of British made PPE, but we won't be the only country asking these questions of their governments.

No doubt Italy are asking why they are buying from Britain and not sourcing from home.
 
I spent 8 years working for one of the biggest PPE companies in the UK. There will be a contracted government PPE supplier for the UK, the company I worked for many years ago had that contract for four years while I was there, it gets very complicated if the government starts buying elsewhere out of contract and could open up a bit of a legal minefield. It could be that whoever has that contract now is interfering or is the one that’s being asked to source everything so it could be that company that’s more at fault. Then again it might not as these are exceptional circumstances and the government is not exactly open and trustworthy. It’s just not necessarily straight forward. Also we are very fussy with standards for ppe in this country all of this new uk made stuff will not meet any of the standards or have suitable classifications to meet the already in place RA’s and MS.. Again if the government buys it someone wears it and gets sick or injured and the kit they are wearing was not upto standard then a whole legal minefield resumes again. It shouldn’t matter but some cockroach legal company will be up and running within days of an issue sueing everyone left right and centre.

It’s common sense to most that some ppe is better than none but it’s not necessarily the case there are loads of people / companies who tried to go into the ppe market without understanding the complexities of it. Many get it horribly wrong.
 
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Interesting post that Priv. Would be interesting if that legal wrangling is to blame. Much like other posters; from reading The Times' articles on procurement the other day it seems industry were offering it to gov who didn't get back to the companies in time so was sold to overseas buyer.

I mean a blanket we'll buy it all might not be ideal but something near to that surely should've been implemented.
 
Today's Grauniad has a big article on this very subject, containing this sentence - "the management and the distribution of the stockpile has been outsourced to a private company, Movianto, which was sold two weeks ago for $133m (£107m) by its owner, a large American healthcare group." And "In the coming months the custody of the UK’s emergency stockpile of PPE will be passed on to a family-run business based in suburban Paris."

As I said, quite a long article and I've only read a bit of it but it's here if anybody's interested

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-ppe-stockpile-was-sold-in-middle-of-pandemic
 
I saw a clip of Chris Whitty the other day addressing a group and he said he expects to be in front of a committee explaining why he didn't do more or why he spent more than was needed.
That is the reality and someone will be blamed for something at sometime.
 
Priv said:
I spent 8 years working for one of the biggest PPE companies in the UK. There will be a contracted government PPE supplier for the UK, the company I worked for many years ago had that contract for four years while I was there, it gets very complicated if the government starts buying elsewhere out of contract and could open up a bit of a legal minefield. It could be that whoever has that contract now is interfering or is the one that’s being asked to source everything so it could be that company that’s more at fault. Then again it might not as these are exceptional circumstances and the government is not exactly open and trustworthy. It’s just not necessarily straight forward. Also we are very fussy with standards for ppe in this country all of this new uk made stuff will not meet any of the standards or have suitable classifications to meet the already in place RA’s and MS.. Again if the government buys it someone wears it and gets sick or injured and the kit they are wearing was not upto standard then a whole legal minefield resumes again. It shouldn’t matter but some cockroach legal company will be up and running within days of an issue sueing everyone left right and centre.

It’s common sense to most that some ppe is better than none but it’s not necessarily the case there are loads of people / companies who tried to go into the ppe market without understanding the complexities of it. Many get it horribly wrong.
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Absolutely spot on Priv. Most people haven't a clue about PPE standards, approvals, compatibility... etc. especially the press who love to sensationalise this sort of thing without any knowledge.

Out of interest what company did you work for or what PPE did they make. I worked for 30+ years for one of the largest global manufacturers and suppliers of PPE - probably the largest in Europe on TO
 
So long as the NHS are still buying the contractual amount of PPE then surely they'll be able to source other PPE from elsewhere, particularly if the contracted company can't meet the extra demand.

Anyway, the nail was hit firmly on the head earlier. Money.
 
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