COVID-19: PPE stockpile at Felixstowe 'costing taxpayers 拢1m a day'
It is believed the supplies have been at the Suffolk port since the summer - but it could all be moved "within four weeks".
Wednesday 25 November 2020 08:04, UK
A "continuing logjam" of the supply of PPE to the UK's hospitals has been called a "national scandal" amid reports a storage mountain of the safety items is costing the taxpayer 拢1m a day.
Masks, aprons and gloves destined for the NHS to help protect staff from COVID-19 have been sitting in thousands of containers at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk.
It is believed the supplies have been stored at the UK's busiest container port since the summer, attracting daily fees and despite some health workers continuing to report a shortage in PPE.
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The port has admitted it has had to deal with a "high number of slow-moving containers of PPE occupying storage space" but it is hoping all the stockpile would be removed from the Felixstowe site "within four weeks".
Unite union has called on the government and its 'PPE czar', former London Olympics chief executive and Treasury minister Paul Deighton, to "urgently" tackle the problems.
In a statement, Unite national officer for health, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, said: "The long-running problems with the delivery of personal protective equipment are a national scandal that have shocked the public - and we are now calling for the government's PPE 'czar' Lord Deighton to urgently explain why there are continuing logjams in the supply chain.
"Our members on the NHS and social care frontline, such as speech and language therapists, paramedics and health visitors, are still reporting difficulties getting the necessary PPE nine months after the first lockdown.
"All this is happening against a background of an estimated more than 600 NHS and social care workers dying from causes linked to COVID-19 - this PPE crisis needs to be resolved urgently out of respect to their memory.
"Now more than ever these promises need to be kept, as the NHS approaches the most challenging of winters."
According to The Telegraph, thousands of shipping containers full of PPE were kept in storage at the Suffolk port last week, attracting fees of around £1m a day.
The government said the stockpile, which was said to have been as high as the equivalent of 11,000 containers, has been "rapidly" reduced.
A government spokesperson told Sky News more than 4.9 billion items of PPE have been delivered so far with "32 billion items ordered to provide a continuous supply" to meet demand for "months to come".
The spokesperson added: "The amount of PPE stock held on quay at Felixstowe is already coming down rapidly, from nearly 7,000 containers in late October to under 4,000 now, with further reductions expected up to Christmas."
In an operational update on its website, the port - which is owned by Hutchison Ports - said it is "still experiencing a spike in container volumes and dealing with the consequences of the ongoing COVID pandemic".
"In addition we have had a high number of slow-moving containers of PPE occupying storage space," the port added.
"We have been working with the government's principle forwarder to remove PPE containers as quickly as possible.
"Volumes have reduced significantly since the peak and should all be cleared within four weeks."