[teestub]

So it turns out that we didn’t miss out on ventilator buying because of some ‘missed emails’ or whatever excuse Gove came up with  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/21/uk-refusal-of-eu-ventilator-offer-was-political-decision

Those pesky select committees asking questions and getting straight answers. I assume Cummings will have to do another blog on the govt site to refute this now.

[ali k]

So it turns out that we didn’t miss out on ventilator buying because of some ‘missed emails’ or whatever excuse Gove came up with

Apparently the FCO official who made that statement is now writing to the select committee to clarify that in fact it wasn’t a political decision (I can only imagine he got a bollocking from HMG and told not to tell the truth in future). The mendacity of this government astounds me.

[teestub]

Oh wow that article has changed drastically in the half hour since I posted it! The EC spokesperson seems to go with the initial story.

[mrjonathanr]

This one is something special:
Government misses out on 16m facemasks for NHS in four weeks

The equipment is available, but getting sold and exported to other countries because offers are being ignored. This administration looks increasingly unfit for office.

[Nigel]

This one is something special:
Government misses out on 16m facemasks for NHS in four weeks

The equipment is available, but getting sold and exported to other countries because offers are being ignored. This administration looks increasingly unfit for office.

Its astonishing.

In the cloud cuckoo land of my head, the government had weeks ago done a rapid ramping up (sorry) of people on phones actually *chasing* companies i.e. cold calling them demanding their current PPE supplies, and placing forward orders. That's what I would have done, if for no other reason than to selfishly cover my arse for the fact our stockpile was criminally depleted. In fact they are ignoring offers of help, effectively taking the phone off the hook, even now in LATE APRIL. What are we up to now? 100 healthcare workers dead of Covid 19? I shouldn't need to mention that of course it should be zero dead. Absolutely zero.

They are *criminally* incompetent, and I use that term advisedly.

[TobyD]

It seems you're not the only one consumed with rage by their performance:

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/04/boris-johnson-lockdown-government-coronavirus-response

[Nigel]

It seems you're not the only one consumed with rage by their performance

I don't think its just me and him either.

[Will Hunt]

On this topic, this thread is interesting.
https://twitter.com/botzarelli/status/1252231981019979776?s=19

Please don't read if you're just here for some good old Tory bashing.

[TobyD]

This is an excellent article

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/truth-about-virus-is-better-for-us-than-hope-gnnfhsdg5?shareToken=16c42362284d3672fc59f8b97c69e706

[TobyD]

It seems you're not the only one consumed with rage by their performance

I don't think its just me and him either.

I think its worth noting that the article in the new statesman roundly criticized the opposition's performance earlier in the year by being largely absent. 
I think that politicians of all parties were probably equally complacent. Obviously you can't blame the opposition for the decisions of government, but I don't think anyone took it seriously enough, including the health service. 

[ali k]

I think its worth noting that the article in the new statesman roundly criticized the opposition's performance earlier in the year by being largely absent. 
I think that politicians of all parties were probably equally complacent.

I see Labour’s absence earlier in the year as a case of very unfortunate timing. Corbyn clearly had his eyes on the door and was more concerned with protecting his legacy with his ‘told you so’ interview. That’s not to defend his performance, but he was on his way out anyway and just feebly going through the motions. None of the leader or deputy leadership candidates could start wading into the debate for fear of looking like they were taking the result for granted (I’m thinking specifically of Starmer here). And wouldn’t have been getting privy council briefings at that time anyway, so wouldn’t have known the details.

The SNP and Lib Dems should arguably have stepped up to replace the main opposition position during that time.

But since Starmer took over I think they have very quickly adopted a strong probing but responsible and often supportive opposition stance.

[Nigel]

On this topic, this thread is interesting.
https://twitter.com/botzarelli/status/1252231981019979776?s=19

Please don't read if you're just here for some good old Tory bashing.

OK Will, I'll bite...

To summarise the twitter thread - man who works for vaccine company says PPE procurement is a much more nuanced problem due to various logistical factors which have previously been undiscussed, and as such people should cut government some slack - would you say that is a fair summary? *

I don't regard it as "Tory bashing" to highlight that the lack of PPE provision by the government has led to possibly around 100 healthcare worker's unnecessary deaths. But to avoid the accusation I will try not to make any political points. I will state the fact, with no editorial, that the author of that thread also happens to be the chairman of Leeds NW Conservative Association https://www.leedsnorthwestconservatives.org.uk/people/angelo-basu. People will make of that what they will.

I would go through the points he makes one by one but life is too short. Suffice to say that overall, with political will and planning, none of them should be an issue in late April.

* If I was being unfair I would have said it looks like a professionally scripted litany of excuses as to why the government is blameless and people should just stop mentioning PPE, but I didn't say that did I?

[mrjonathanr]

It is obviously very tricky to organise when a response has to be set up on a big scale at a point when the whole world is after the same thing. Clearly.

That is not sufficient excuse for not getting in touch with and organising UK businesses for procurement. That is a lack of organisation. Nor is it sufficient excuse for not hearing the starting gun in February.

Nothing to do with political parties, it's administrative failure.

[Offwidth]

Latest expose:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/22/revealed-private-firm-running-uk-ppe-stockpile-was-sold-in-middle-of-pandemic

[Will Hunt]

I think that all of what Nigel wrote could well be true. I posted the link because it adds some nuance here which hasn't yet been discussed. It's certainly not a free pass for the government. Whatever might have happened to supply chains in the last few months, there's an argument to be made that this was foreseen but not prepared for. That to me is the biggest charge.

The only comment I'd make on JR's post is that we have no idea how the NHS' procurement teams are resourced at the moment. Personally I don't know if the department of health and social care has any centralised procurement facility or whether it's all farmed out to the trusts. It might be that they've been working flat out but the peak in demand has just been too big (and always would be too big, hence the best solution being some quiet building up of stocks).

[Stu Littlefair]

There's a very good thread from Lewis Goodall illustrating some of the things that have gone wrong with PPE procurement....

https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1252701841135226880?s=21

[spidermonkey09]

One of the best journalists around atm for my money.

[Offwidth]

A doctor sends a warning

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/22/without-a-plan-its-not-going-to-stop-care-homes-fear-worst-yet-to-come-covid-19

[mrjonathanr]

I think it has been pretty obvious from the start that without a radical rethink the care home sector was going to be a calamity.

The more I read the more I suspect the healthcare system is so fragmented now that a properly coordinated response is no longer possible.

[Nigel]

Caught a snippet of Kier Starmer at PMQ's today - from what I heard his questioning seemed totally on point and nailed the government on their numerous failures. Also caught wind of Rachael Reeves sending a list of ignored UK PPE firms to her opposite number Michael Gove. An encouraging start. Hopefully this will continue now parliament is back. The daily 5PM government unchallenged propaganda session was starting to wear a bit thin.

[TobyD]

Personally I don't know if the department of health and social care has any centralised procurement facility or whether it's all farmed out to the trusts. It might be that they've been working flat out but the peak in demand has just been too big (and always would be too big, hence the best solution being some quiet building up of stocks).

I can tell you how NHS procurement is organised: it's not. This is not a direct governmental issue, and it is many years if not decades old. They are absolutely fucking appalling at buying anything, from X ray and MRI scanners to laptops, mobile phones, software, and it seems PPE. Obviously at the moment the government has a pretty big role to play and has also done appallingly.

As one example when the NHS started bringing in paperless records and notes, there was no effort to have one software system across services, trusts or anything else. So whether or not I can see a GP consultation in notes depends on which system their practice uses. This is a huge timewasting pain in the ass. Sometimes you can do a simple, almost instant online referral to another service, sometimes you have to fill out a massive paper document and snail mail it.

The PPE situation looks well organized by comparison, except it doesn't only waste money it spreads the virus.

[TobyD]

Caught a snippet of Kier Starmer at PMQ's today - from what I heard his questioning seemed totally on point and nailed the government on their numerous failures. Also caught wind of Rachael Reeves sending a list of ignored UK PPE firms to her opposite number Michael Gove. An encouraging start. Hopefully this will continue now parliament is back. The daily 5PM government unchallenged propaganda session was starting to wear a bit thin.

I agreed with all that until the last sentence. Leave it out, it has never amounted to a propaganda session, you're only saying that because you really don't like the conservative party.
Watch Donald Trump's daily briefing, now that is a propaganda session.

[ali k]

Caught a snippet of Kier Starmer at PMQ's today

More of a summary than satire but good anyway...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/22/raab-is-tried-and-found-wanting-by-a-masterful-starmer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[sdm]

It looks like the target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month will be met.

The ONS are starting a large scale study of household testing. The study begins on 29th April.

[tomtom]

It looks like the target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month will be met.

The ONS are starting a large scale study of household testing. The study begins on 29th April.

Initial phase is 20 or 30k tests depending on whether you look at Sky or BBC. And they’ll be tests where people are visited at home to have their swab taken. I can’t see 10k of them happening a day - that would require several hundred or more testers to be employed/ trained.