PPE is the responsibility of the NHS not the government, therein lies the problem!
Case study: I was contacted by the procurement supply team of the nhs as we have a few ppe items we could source or manufacture. The lady stated she doesn’t normally do this job but been drafted in to help, understandable. So how many surgical gowns can you supply, I said we have access to 200k in China but I personally don’t want to supply them, they’re overpriced and I hate China, however I appreciate it’s you guys needing them so it’s your call, price is X and they’ll be here in 5 days. Next face visors, we’ve sold 18k, donated 2k and putting 10k on the shelf, it’s not enough, how many do you need? Can’t tell you, ok, at present we’re making 2200-2500 per day, I can ramp up production to 4-5k per day and send a pallet out every 2 days, still not enough . . . I then told her big numbers won’t be sitting on a shelf, you will have cheap Chinese imports coming in but most likely have all been sold/contracted, you really need 20+ UK suppliers giving you 20k each if one fails you’ve not lost your complete supply chain . . . Email yesterday thanks but no thanks 🤯