HSE pays €5.5m each year for storing PPE

The Health Service Executive (HSE) is spending almost €5.5 million each year on the storage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) such as gowns and face masks.

In response to a query raised by the Public Account Committee at a meeting in October, chief executive Bernard Gloster wrote to the committee and disclosed the HSE had outsourced the storage of PPE to three companies at an annual cost of €5,482,000.

One company, JMC, was paid almost half the total allocation, receiving €2.5 million. A second company, BBL, received €1.69 million for storing equipment, while a third, EKO, received a total of €1.28 million.

The HSE has told The Irish Times the sum covers the annual cost for storage and distribution of PPE to all healthcare facilities nationwide, including acute and community settings. It does not cover the cost of purchasing any PPE equipment or apparel.

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“The PPE inventory includes various types of hand gel, gloves, face-masks, face shields and gowns which are purchased on an ongoing basis for supply to these facilities,” the HSE said in a statement.

The cost also includes storage and distribution of needles and syringes used for COVID-19 vaccinations together with antigen and PCR test kits supplied for use across the HSE.”

It confirmed that the storage of ventilators was not included in the costs provided.

It also stated there were no special requirements for the storage of this PPE which can be stored at ambient temperature.

A report by the comptroller and auditor general Seamus McCarthy in late 2021 disclosed that almost a third of the €900 million spent by the HSE on PPE and ventilators had to be written off because of the large volumes bought, as well as inflated prices.

It was during the first phase of the pandemic when demand was at its highest and prices were abnormally high. Its then CEO Paul Reid said the HSE was then facing the prospect of 40,000 deaths, at a time when there were “harrowing images” of deaths in China and Italy.

Among the write-offs was €64 million in relation to 2.5 million “disposable protective suits” which were never used. They were not to the same standard as the standard clinical gown, of which there was a shortage during the early months of Covid-19.

In a separate briefing for a PAC meeting on October 5th, 2023, the HSE said it continued to incur storage costs in respect of obsolescent stock of PPE and the annual cost totalled €1.7 million.

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