Military personnel have criticized the NHS for its ‘appalling’ handling of distributing personal protective equipment (PPE) amid continued complaints of shortages.
The army, which has been helping the health service deploy the life-saving gear, is understood to be pushing for more control of the allocation to ensure kit is ending up where it needs to be.
A senior source alleged that masks, aprons, gloves and other items were being assigned to hospitals without regard to relative need, leading to oversupply in some areas and shortages in others. They claimed NHS logistics were ‘knackered’ and questioned why certain key items were not being rationed.
‘We know how knackered their [NHS logistics] systems are, but we’ve been surprised we’ve not been called in to help more, and we’ve been surprised by their failure to ration [kit] ‘the insider told The Times.
Commanders are believed to be frustrated that the Covid Support Force has not been called in to lead on the allocation, given that planning and logistics are military specialisms.
Chairman of the Commons Defense Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood, has called on the government to appoint a military specialist as logistics boss to alleviate the PPE crisis, saying the army is ‘extremely enthusiastic’ to assist.
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He stressed the ‘tremendous sacrifice and efforts of the NHS’ but said it was not used to working so holistically together on this scale and for this duration.
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