Tag Archives: PPE

Have the Government handled the Covid-19 pandemic well?

By Gillian Douglass | Wed 2nd December 2020 - 12:00 pm

It’s a difficult question, and the Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenge for governments worldwide. The fact is that, while the government has done well in terms of an initial lockdown, there have been serious failings. It will be interesting to read the review when it’s published.

Firstly, the government, with SAGE’s advice, took the position that they did not want to lockdown too early as people may not accept it. This was obviously an error as thousands of lives could have been saved by locking down a week earlier. Later in the year, the government has again delayed a lockdown, going against the advice of SAGE who called for a short, sharp circuit breaker. I assume that they wanted to prove to their supporters that it was entirely necessary, but, again, it will have led to unnecessary deaths.

Posted in News | Also tagged Covid-19 and Government contracts | 28 Comments

Tackling the PPE problem

By Carol Runciman | Tue 5th May 2020 - 2:17 pm

It became apparent very early in the COVID-19 pandemic that there was going to be a problem with the supply of PPE. All eyes at that point were understandably on the NHS and our hospitals in particular and available supplies of PPE were directed their way.

But, as City of York’s Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care, I was very aware that there were other front line workers who also needed PPE, although of a different specification from that used in hospitals. Regular reports came to me about supplies in care homes and home care organisations and I knew …