PPE failures left NHS staff poorly protected and wasted £10bn, Covid inquiry finds

The recommendations made include: a "radical overhaul" of the emergency system for buying PPE and distributing it before the next pandemicdrawing up a "domestic industry strategy" which treats key healthcare equipment as a strategic national asset"improving the state of the pandemic stockpile which is held in a giant warehouse in MerseysideThe Prime Minister's Spokeswoman said the report made for difficult reading"The pandemic had a profound and lasting impact across our society and this government is committed to learning the lessons of the Covid inquiry so that we are protected and prepared for the future.

Only a third of the masks in England's pandemic stockpile were usable, the inquiry found, while Scotland had no supplies of high-grade respiratory masks used in hospitals.

When the cost of home testing kits and other equipment, such as ventilators, was included, the total amount spent by the government between January 2020 and June 2022 exceeded £42bn, the inquiry found.